Scars and Cuts
by Inumel-mel
Summary: Being abused for five years has made Sango almost immune to the constant beatings. But one day something inside her snaps and she runs to her best friend Miroku. How will their story unfold? Rewritten, better summary coming soon.
1. Tormented Daily, Defeated by You

**Just a little before note, this story has been rewritten and a lot of things have changed. I hope I gain my old reviewers back with this new and very much improved story.**

_**I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.**_

**Scars and Cuts**

**Chapter One**

**Tormented Daily, Defeated by You**

The alarm clock buzzing in my ear is what woke me up this morning. For once I was relieved of that fact than it being my actual father who would have yelled in my ear if it wasn't for the fact that yesterday I locked my door. I normally leave it unlocked since my brother Kohaku is right down the hall and he usually comes into my room and sleeps with me when my dad gets like this. Up until this day I'm not sure what started his abusive nature. He had always been very nice and compassionate. He used to talk to us and tell us what was on his mind. But something had snapped inside him and now whenever he would get angry he'd take his frustration out on us. Maybe it was the fact that my mother left him to be with another man. I can't say I really blame her, who wants to be with an abusive husband? Too bad she didn't take us with her. I had assumed any mother would, but I guess since I was already in my last year of high school and Kohaku was in his freshman year she figured we would be alright on our own. I don't get how she got that but I suppose we did do alright.

It had been already five years that he abused us. The first year was the hardest, we had never been subjected to that kind of pain before, and every time he'd hit me, I would cry. But now, it was routine, and I didn't cry that much anymore. The only one I worried about was Kohaku. He didn't get hit as often as I did, and that was mainly because I would block the blows with my body so he wouldn't get hit. But I knew that times I wasn't there, whether it be I was with my friends or getting something from the grocery store, my brother was being abused. I always knew because Kohaku would sit in my room with the door locked, the only room that actually has a lock (my mom thought it would be a good idea so I could change in peace) and wait until I got home, even if that was late into the night, he wouldn't leave until I got there. After the first year was up, my mom left. I guess she couldn't take it anymore either. This was her high school sweetheart and I'm sure the blows hurt a million times more than they did to us. That was what I had assumed. No mother on earth would leave her kids; at least I wouldn't leave mine with an abusive parent.

Nobody, not even my best friend, knew I was abused. The reason they thought my mom left was because she had simply moved on and wanted to start her life anew with no kids at all. I swore to my friends she called every week to check on us, and surprisingly they bought it. The truth was she never called. We didn't even know where she was at and that made my dad crazy which in turn made him hit us.

If you would have told me at age seven that my dad would turn around an abuse us, I would have called you a caca head and stuck my tongue out at you. My dad had been my hero until he started abusing us. The first time he hit me, I lost all respect for him. I guess that would only be natural.

After rolling out of bed I silently walked over to my door and unlocked it. I opened it a crack and the house was silent. Either my dad was at work or was passed out on the couch for drinking too much. I quietly crept down to Kohaku's door and pressed my ear against it. I could hear his light snoring so I knew he was safe, for now. I went downstairs and it was empty. Walking further into the living room I saw that his car keys were gone, so it was safe to say he was at work. Moments like this made me swell with happiness, just to know we would have a good morning with no fresh marks on our face and no last minute excuses to our friends saying what happened. It was such a handful to always have to lie to my friends. But the less people knew about our private life, the better.

I walked up the stairs with a spring in my step and when I reached Kohaku's room I opened the door and saw him sprawled out on his bed, his long hair which was usually kept back in a ponytail was down and facing in every direction. I walked over to his blinds and pulled them up and he grunted out his dissatisfaction.

"Wake up sleepy head!" I said in a sing-song voice. He simply rolled over and mumbled out something that sounded awfully close to 'fuck off.' I wasn't having that. "Alright Kohaku, if you don't wake up I'm going to tickle you until you pee!" that is what woke him up.

"You're being too nice, is dad not here?" he asked rubbing his eyes while sitting up.

"Nope, it's just you and I little brother," I said smiling while walking over to his door. "Don't go back to sleep alright? I'm going to get dressed and when I come back you better be dressed."

He flicked me off and I had to laugh. Seeing my little brother doing stuff like that always made me smile. I guess I still saw him as the cute little boy in his high chair who had cake all over his face and body then in his actual stomach. Where did our innocence go? Oh wait, I remember…

I walked back into my room closing the door behind me. I walked to my closet and began looking for my school uniform. I knew I had one more clean one…ah there it is. I pulled it out and sighed. I hated the short skirts more than anything. I walked over to my dresser and selected my nude colored bra and began to undress. I winced as the fabric from my nightshirt brushed too hard against my bruises from last night. I hated when he would beat us during the week…it made it harder to concentrate in school when you had to focus on not leaning to hard against the wooden chair. Once the uniform was on correctly I walked to my mirror and began brushing out my thick brown hair. The school dress code said I had to wear it either braided or pulled all the way up on top of my head. I usually pulled it all the way up but since I was in such a good mood I took the time to braid it nicely. Satisfied at my hair I put on my usual magenta eye shadow, some eye liner and grabbed my chap stick so I could put it on after I brushed my teeth.

Walking out of my room carrying my long white socks I headed towards the bathroom at the same time Kohaku was. Once we reached it he shoved me aside and grabbed his toothbrush and mine also. I thought he was going to give it to me but instead he stuck it inside his pants pocket. I glared at him, that once glare that would make the strongest of demons even surrender to my gaze. He gulped and handed it back to me before grabbing the toothpaste and began brushing his teeth.

"That's what I thought," I said smugly and I did the same thing he did. He pushed me away from him and I pushed him back harder. He laughed and at the same time gagged from the toothpaste. I tried not to laugh so much and finished brushing my teeth. I rinsed out my mouth and sat down on the toilet with the cover down. "Do you have soccer practice today?"

He spit out the toothpaste. "Yup, I have practice today and tomorrow,"

I nodded my head in understanding and began putting on my white socks. He left me alone in the bathroom after awhile and when I looked back in the mirror I noticed a bruise I had on my chest. I scolded myself for being so careless and buttoned up the very last button, even though I hated it. I applied my chap stick and when I was done I closed the bathroom door so I could do my business.

"Sango, I'm leaving early!"

"Are you walking with Souta?" I asked while flushing the toilet.

"I'm meeting him on the way over there," he said while walking back into his room to grab his backpack. "I just got off the phone with him; he said Kagome was going to meet you here."

"She's coming here!" I yelled. I opened the door and saw his apologetic face.

"I tried to change her mind but you know Kagome, she won't change her mind once she's set it to something. Sorry sis," he said while giving me a one armed hug before walking down the hall.

"Don't worry about it; I'll just wait for her outside." I said quickly while heading to my room to get my last minute things. After grabbing my bag and my charm bracelet I walked to the kitchen.

I grabbed Kohaku's lunch out of the fridge and handed it to him. He muttered a thank you and a goodbye and left the house to meet his best friend. I pulled my lunch out as well and placed it on top of the counter. Reaching for a nearby drawer I grabbed a pair of chopsticks and mentally slapped myself for not giving Kohaku some as well. I shrugged it off and figured I could just give it to him at school. Going towards another drawer I pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and began writing a note to my dad. It basically said that Kohaku had soccer practice and that I had a group project I needed to work on (that part was a lie) with my friends. I opened up the fridge again and placed it where the beer was at, knowing he would see it there. I also knew he would probably slap me for that, but I figured a minor slap would be alright.

I grabbed my lunch while closing the fridge with my foot then walked towards the front door and put on my brown shoes. I opened the door while locking the bottom lock and closed it, wincing when the sunlight was too bright in my eyes. I walked towards the end of the sidewalk and waiting for Kagome to show up. A few minutes of waiting and I saw Kagome jogging up to me. She smiled widely and waved over at me. I waved back and gave her a similar smile and when she reached me she began huffing and puffing.

"You know, with all those stairs you have to climb you would think a simple run wouldn't wind you that badly. Maybe that's a sign for you to stop eating fast food all the time." I teased.

"Shut…up…Sango," she said in between breathes. I couldn't help but laugh at her. When she looked at me she glared but I could tell by her dark chocolate eyes she was only playing. "So, how was your evening last night?"

How was my evening last night? Oh right, I remember. It consisted of my dad screaming at us for making too much noise when the house was deadly silent. I remember the sting of the belt as it hit me over and over; I was taking the blows for Kohaku again. My dad hated when I did that…it just made him hit me harder. I suddenly remembered that Kagome was waiting for my answer and I put up a fake smile as I answered her.

"Kohaku and I watched movies for most of the evening," lie, I'm such a liar. "After that we got take out and it was a real hit," kind of true, but I'm still lying. "My dad didn't like it very much so he just opted for a frozen meal," that's an understatement, I thought to myself bitterly.

"Sounds a lot better than my evening," Kagome said rolling her eyes. "Inuyasha came over, you know how Souta adores him, and we argued most of the night about everything! What movie to watch, what to eat, what to drink, everything!"

I laughed at her endless rant about Inuyasha; they had been friends longer than both of us. They were pretty much raised together. Kagome's mom was his baby sitter when his mother was still working and ever since then, they had been inseparable. Up until this day I'm still not sure how their relationship lasted with all of their bickering and little fist fights (it was mainly Kagome who threw the first punch and I had never seen Inuyasha hit her before). Maybe it was because underneath it all, they had a real understanding for each other.

"Hello, Sango? Did you hear what I said?"

"What was that?"

"I said, did Miroku say anything about our math homework. He usually calls you first since he's in love with you,"

"Shut up, Kagome," I said glaring. "And no he didn't call me last night,"

Oh Miroku…where do I begin with him? Let's just say when he transferred to our middle school sixth grade year he had a thing for me. He says it was 'love at first sight' but if you ask me, I think it was because I have a big backside, or at least that's what Miroku said. The day he 'introduced' himself to me was when he groped me in the hallway…ever since that first punch he kind of held back from touching me there. It didn't work all the time though, I still felt that familiar hand on my butt every now and then but he usually ran off before I had a chance to slap him and he would stay away long enough so that when I did see him I would only glare at him. But he'd smile with that same 'I'm innocent' smile and when he did, my knees felt like I would fall on the floor and melt into a nice 'puddle of Sango.' Alright, so I had a small, tiny, you need a very powerful microscope to find it, crush on Miroku. I would never tell him since he was such a womanizer and I would most likely contract some kind of disease from him. I frowned at myself for thinking that, it was kind of mean. I shrugged my shoulders and glared at the stop sign in front of me and decided it was okay to think that since he was my best friend.

"Um, Sango are you alright?"

"Yes, I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"It looked like you were arguing with yourself about something," she said while reaching over to touch my forehead. "You're temperature seems fine, is something bothering you?"

"Nope, not all at," I said stopping at the end of the street. I pressed the button impatiently to change the walk sign. It wasn't on my side this morning.

"Sure, you can't lie to me Sango," Kagome said while staring at me from the corner of her eye. Oh, if she only knew how much I lied to her.

"I'm seriously fine, I just want to hurry up and get today over with," I sighed. I looked over at her. "Did you have any plans after school today?"

"Actually, Inuyasha wants to go to this new ramen store," we both rolled our eyes. "I swear that's all that boy eats. He said the store's supposed to have five new flavors that have never been introduced before. I think he's lying but he still wants me to go,"

I made a small noise but I wasn't sure if Kagome caught it or not. When the pedestrian sign turned green we walked across quickly, after a few more feet of walking Kagome began talking again.

"Why did you ask anyways?"

"I have no plans for tonight and my dad gave me permission to go out," lies, lies, and lies! "I had wanted to go out with you but you're ditching me for some new flavors of ramen," I teased.

"That's Inuyasha's idea! Not mine!" she exclaimed defending herself.

"Chill, Kagome, I was joking." I said laughing.

"Sure you were," she said letting out a small giggle. "Why don't you ask Miroku if he's doing anything? I'm sure that pervert would love to take you out."

"Like I'd really ask him, I'd rather go on a date with Hojo then him!" Kagome laughed at my joke and I had to join in. It was so easy to forget my home life when I was with Kagome, almost easy.

The school building finally came into view and we began looking for our friends. It wasn't hard to find Inuyasha or Miroku. We usually looked for Inuyasha's silver hair, always braided behind his back and his cute dog ears. The only person allowed to touch them was Kagome. Although, when I first met him, I just had to touch them also. And, right next to him on either side was Miroku and Kouga. Those were our friends; we were a really weird bunch. Kagome and I both saw Inuyasha's ears twitch and he turned around just in time to see Kagome squeal about his ears moving. This made Inuyasha's face turn red and even though we couldn't hear it, we knew he simply replied 'Feh!' it was his favorite sound after all.

"Hello Inuyasha!" Kagome said rather loudly making his ears go back.

"Do you have to yell so loudly?" Inuyasha barked back.

"I didn't think I was that loud, and you better watch how you talk to me or I won't go to that new ramen store with you," she threatened while crossing her arms.

I laughed quietly to myself; I didn't feel like drawing Inuyasha's anger towards myself. I stopped laughing when I felt a familiar presence surround me. I tensed up and turned around slowly to see Miroku standing next to me. He had his 'I'm innocent' smile and my heart did a flip. Curse this dumb crush!

"Houshi, you have one second to get the hell away from me," I growled. I saw him move a few inches away from me but other than that he stayed close to me. "Inuyasha, I have a question for you,"

His ears twitched and I tried to stifle a giggle, in which I failed miserably. He crossed his arms and glared at me. "What do you want?"

"How is Akira doing? I haven't heard from her in awhile," I said trying not to break the gaze. After awhile of staring he would squirm then look away, he's such a pansy ass.

"She's doing fine, she misses it here, that's what she tells me anyways," he said as his ears drooped.

The whole group got quiet. Akira is Inuyasha's younger sister who was not exactly an accident but she wasn't planned either. Needless to say, at one of the Takahashi's grand New Years parties Mr. and Mrs. Takahashi had a little too much to drink and thus, Akira was conceived. She was only a year younger than Inuyasha and ever since she was young, showed a great display of musical talent. As of now, she was attending Julliard, a music school in New York. Her father had to pull a lot of strings to get her in, but when Julliard finally confirmed that she could attend, she was on the next flight out. Well, after they thru her a big going away party. There were a lot of tears that night. She had been gone already three years and it seemed everything was going well for her.

"Maybe she'll be back when school ends," I said hopeful. I really missed that silly half-demon.

"Hopefully," he said while kicking the ground.

I thought all hope would be lost bug luckily, Kouga had something to say.

"Stop being so down mutt, it's not like you,"

"Fuck you, you mangy wolf," Inuyasha shot back.

Kagome was the first to break the silence with her laughter. At least our loveable Inuyasha was back. I looked to the side of me and Miroku was laughing too. For a pervert, he had a beautiful smile. Unlike any other smile I had ever seen. Oh and his eyes…so beautiful. Uhh I need to get a grip! There was a shrill noise and when we all groaned. School was about to start.

"Well, I'll see you guys at lunch!" Kagome said waving goodbye. Inuyasha followed behind her and Kouga, being a jerk, jumped on Inuyasha's back nearly making him fall over in the process.

I shook my head as the two began arguing while an irritated Kagome marched into the building leaving the two immature boys alone. I was still very much aware of Miroku beside me but I was so paranoid to say anything to him. That was until he spoke first.

"So, what are you doing today?" he asked while motioning for me to follow him into the building.

"Nothing actually, I need something to do since my dad gave me permission to go out," and yet the lies keep spilling out. It's hard enough lying to Kagome, but to Miroku, it's almost impossible. "Kohaku has soccer practice so we can't have our annual brother and sister time."

"Well, if it's alright with you, would you want to do something with me?"

I looked up at him and nearly tripped over my own feet in the process. He had to grab onto my arm so I wouldn't fall over. I got tingles up my arm and I had to calm myself down. I looked back into his blue/purple eyes and I saw pure adoration coming from his orbs.

"Uh, sure that would be alright. I was actually going to see if you had anything you would want to do…"

"We can always go to my house, if you want to," he said smirking.

"You're gonna end up raping me if I go over," I said bluntly. Not only that, but my father would kill me if he ever figured out I went to a boys house. Hell he doesn't even know I have three guy best friends.

"I promise I won't rape you," he said crossing his heart. At this point we had made it into the school. I looked at him for a long time then finally sighed.

"Alright, I'll meet you in the front after school,"

He smiled at me again and here come the butterflies again. He said something about meeting me right after our last class, which was gym. He told me that he had something to do before he went to class (we all had the same homeroom) and would be there as soon as possible. I waved goodbye to him and headed towards our classroom and sat down in my seat which was in between Kouga and Inuyasha. They were bickering about something and even though I had sat in between them they still kept going at it. I put my head on my desk and sighed.

"You two fight like an old married couple, can't you just kiss and make up?" I muttered out, knowing their keen demon ears would hear that.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" they both yelled at the same time.

Instead of answering, I just ignored them and sighed heavily. I suddenly felt tired and it took me awhile to realize it was because of the stupid bruises on my back. They had bugged me all night and I usually sleep on my back but I had to sleep on only my stomach which got really uncomfortable. Not to mention my breast felt like they had been pushed to being an A-cup instead of my regular C-cup. I looked up just in time to see Miroku walk into the door and followed behind him was the teacher. He took his seat in back of me and in a matter of minutes, class had begun.

**At Lunch**

One thing about school, it sucks. If I hadn't been trying to get into a good college I wouldn't have even bothered going to school at all. But I figured since I was already going to graduate, might as well stay. We usually ate lunch on the roof of the school, along with a lot of other students. We had our spot that we always would sit in and Kouga, since he ran the fastest, would go and save it for us so no one else would sit there. He was very territorial of stuff like that. I was on my way upstairs with the rest of the gang when I remembered I had to give Kohaku some chopsticks. After explaining it to them, I headed off towards Kohaku's class. When I got to his homeroom, I knocked on the door, and then opened it while bowing.

"Excuse me, I need to see Kohaku for a moment, I must pass something along to him,"

"I'm sorry, Miss. Taijaiya but he was called into the office just a moment before you arrived. I think your father is here," the teacher said smiling.

I felt the color drain from my face. I stuttered out a quick thank you while slamming the door shut and I ran like hell towards the office. When I reached it, only the usual secretary was there. I cursed to myself and ran outside, even though it wasn't allowed. I ran toward the front of the school and when I didn't see his car parked out there I panicked even more. Was it possible he took Kohaku home? Why did he come to the school for anyways? I could feel my heart pounding harder and harder then it dawned on me. Kohaku had soccer practice, the field was far enough away that nobody would be passing by it during lunch and if someone did pass by; they wouldn't be able to see anyone. Without thinking I ran with all my might towards the field, hoping I'd get there in time.

When I arrived I didn't see anything at first, but once I got closer and closer I could hear my dad yelling at Kohaku about something, and I could hear Kohaku crying out in pain. Without thinking yet again, I ran toward the sound and when I saw them I felt the tears come to my eyes. I never liked seeing my brother in pain, and seeing him getting beaten by a stick was something so horrible, so unimaginable, that I thought I was imagining it. He only hit us with his fist, or kicked us with his feet; I had never seen him hit us with an object. When I reached my father, I pushed him so hard that he fell on his backside. I stood in front of Kohaku who was crying silently on the ground. When my dad looked at me, I knew I was in deep shit.

"Sango, how nice to see you," he said, his voice dripping with venom.

"The feelings mutual," I said with no emotion. I didn't move anything but my eyes as I watched him get off the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to pay my son a visit, is that so bad?" he asked. "His teacher called me and said he got a failing grade on one of his test, I expected more from him."

I didn't say anything as he moved closer to me. When he was arms length away from me, his hand met my cheek in a sickening slap. I felt my head snap to the side and my eyes screwed shut so I wouldn't let any tears escape. I heard Kohaku gasp and I felt his hand grab my ankle.

"Why do you always get in the way, my dearest Sango?" I hated when he called me that. It made it seem like everything was ok, when nothing was ok. "How did you know I was out here?"

"I went to take Kohaku some chopsticks; I forgot to give them to him this morning. When I went to his classroom the teacher said he was called into the office because you were here." I said looking up at him. "I assumed you read the note so you took him over here so no one would see you,"

"Very smart, my little girl," he stepped back from me and when he did I reached down and pulled Kohaku off the floor. He winced in pain and I nearly lost it. It was one thing to hit me, but an entirely different thing to hit my brother.

"I think you should leave dad," I said in a quiet voice. "I'll be home a little late tonight, but when I get home you can punish me."

He smirked. "Sounds like a plan my lovely girl, I'll see you later on,"

I watched as he left the school grounds. I didn't take my eyes off of him until he turned the corner and was out of sight. I looked over at Kohaku and he had stopped crying. I could see the tears still in his eyes and when he looked at me he tried to smile. I reached out to him and he hugged me as tightly as he could without hurting my own bruises in the process. He began to cry again and I held onto him. We stayed like that for three minutes and when I pulled away he calmed down.

"Do you want to leave?"

"Where can I go Sango?" he asked. "We have nowhere to go to escape that…that monster,"

"I know…I'm sorry I said that. You can always go to the shrine, I'm sure Kagome's mom would understand if you told her you weren't feeling well and you can't go home because dad isn't there,"

"I can't, I have soccer practice," Kohaku answered running his hand through his bangs. "Coach said that he really needed me to go today, I think he's gonna talk to me about being on varsity next year instead of junior varsity, which is really good, he only chooses two players and I think he's going to pick Souta and I,"

"That's great, brother," I said smiling proudly at him. "I'm sure you'll do great, and I promise right now I'll go to every single one of your games,"

He smiled at me and for that moment, I was glad to have my brother back. Kohaku waited a little while to calm down enough and after I gave him his chopsticks in which he laughed, he went back to his class. I decided to head towards the bathroom to look at the red welt on my face. It didn't look to bad, but when I touched it, it hurt like hell. I sighed in frustration and grabbed some paper towels and wet them with cold water then placed it on my throbbing cheek. The cold water felt amazing on my cheek and I let out a small sigh of relief. I took off my cold compress again and it looked less red than it had been earlier.

Smiling with victory, I threw the paper towel into the trashcan and made my way back up to the roof. Lunch would be over soon but if I hurried I would probably be able to finish most of my lunch. I reached the roof and my friends were laughing about something or other. I joined then and the minute the lid came off of my binto box I hurriedly began to eat it.

"Sango, hello, did you not hear me?"

"What is it?" I said looking up at Miroku.

"I said, what happened to your cheek, it's kind of red," he said reaching over and touching it lightly.

I shrugged my shoulders, "It must have been a bug bite or something,"

He continued to stare at me long after I told him that lie. Was it possible he knew what had happened? There's no way he could have seen from here, unless he went to look for me. Oh please let that not be the case. I don't know what I would do if someone actually knew about our home life. I would probably die of shame, if not from my father's hands. If anyone from my friends found out they'd probably kill him, namely Inuyasha and Kouga. Well, Miroku might kill him too…but just the thought of his innocent hands killing my father made me cringe.

Did I just say his innocent hands? Something is wrong with me, maybe I should take my own advice and go to Kagome's house and ask Ms. Higurashi to tend for me instead. I sighed and continued eating my food. The sound of the bell nearly made me jump. Everyone said their goodbyes and left the roof, Inuyasha and Kagome walked off together and I saw Kouga head off towards where Ayame was at. It was obvious that he liked her, and very obvious that she liked him. Why the two wolf demons didn't get together was beyond me.

"Sango, are you coming?" Miroku asked from near the door.

"I'll be right down," I said while closing my binto box. I packed it all and my stuff and stood stretching. Out of curiosity I walked over to where the soccer field was and grinned in satisfaction, you couldn't see anything from this angle, let alone any of the other angles.

Miroku once again yelled out my name and I headed back towards where he was at. I smiled at him widely and when he smiled back, I could see something was wrong. His eyes didn't shine with the usual mischievous they usually had. Did he really see what happened?

"Are you alright?" I asked him anyways.

"I'm just a little…" he said but stopped. I could tell he was searching for the right word but he was having a hard time finding it. "I'll be alright; did you still want to hang out after school today?"

I thought about it for a little while. If I canceled on him he would know something was up, and if I did go he would eventually bring it up. I was screwed either way.

"Of course, I said I would, didn't I?" he smiled again, this time his orbs shined with happiness and I nearly fell down the stairs.

"You're really clumsy today, you know that?" he teased. "I might just have to carry you all the way to class,"

"Like you really could, Houshi," I teased back. Suddenly I was up in the air and I could feel Miroku's muscular arms holding me. "Houshi what are you doing? Put me down!"

"I could hear that challenge in your voice, Sango. So I picked you up," he said while nearly running down the stairs. "And I'm not putting you down until we reach our class,"

"Miroku we're going to get written up for P.D.A. and it would be ridiculous since I'm not even you girlfriend now put me down!" I could feel him grab on tighter and when he did I let out a yelp. Curse these stupid bruises…

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked while putting me down. "Did I hurt you?"

"Oh, it's nothing at all," I said nervously. I fixed my skirt without looking at him and I began walking away from him. "Hurry up we're going to be late." I didn't once look behind me to see if he was following me, I was scared on what I would see. Because deep down inside, I knew that he knew my secret, and that scared me more than my dad beating me until I couldn't move anymore. My secret was out, and there was no stopping it now.

**After School**

The rest of the day I was nervous. I had been dreading this moment ever since my dad first hit us, someone finally knew who wasn't in my immediate family and it was Miroku of all people. I couldn't necessarily be sure if it was true or not and I didn't know what I would do if he asked me out front. I could lie to him, but what would be the point? If he saw what had happened, he would call me out and I would be forced to spill my guts to him. No, I wouldn't do that. I'll just tell him I said something in decent so he slapped me. Yeah, that sounds good. I'll just tell him that and—

"Hey Sango, are you ready to leave?"

I was interrupted with my thoughts by none other than Miroku himself. He had his bag slung over one arm and it made him seem very attractive…snap out of it Sango! I nodded my head to him and we headed off in the direction of his car. The walk was silent and I figured that the car ride would be silent to, at least by us. Miroku always had music playing in his car no matter what the occasion. Finally reaching his car (don't ask me what it is, I don't speak car and driver) he unlocked the door for me and I got in. When he joined me in his vehicle he started up the engine and sped off. Silent, like I assumed, except for the music playing.

"So, was there anything specific you wanted to do?" he asked while changing the song with a button on the steering wheel.

"No, we can do whatever you wish,"

"Whatever I wish, you say?" he said smirking.

"Almost anything…" I mumbled lower into my seat. Why did he have to be such a pervert all the time?

He didn't say anything, just kept his smirk planted on his face. I looked out of the window for most of the ride, only looking at him every few minutes or so. I wasn't sure of what he was thinking or what we were going to do, I just hoped it wasn't anything that would make me uncomfortable. He turned down the street that would take us to his house and when we reached it he parked it in the street, meaning he was going to be leaving somewhere soon. I hoped that is wasn't to my house to kill my dad. That would be the worst. Well…in terms of Miroku possibly going to jail that is.

"C'mon Sango, it's gonna get hot if you sit in the car the rest of the afternoon,"

Looking up I noticed he had the engine off and was out of the car, his gaze on mine. I quickly unbuckled my seatbelt and got out, my face turning red. This day was just getting worse and worse. I followed him up the pathway and when he opened the door I was greeted with incense. It was always the same smell; I could never remember the name though. I usually just called it 'Miroku's smell' and he would laugh about it. I breathed in deeply, thankful that it wasn't the smell I usually smelled when I would go home. It always smelt of beer and cigarette smoke. That smell usually would travel to my room and I would be forced to open my window to try and make the smell go away. It never worked.

I sat down on the couch and placed my bag on the coffee table. I could hear Miroku go into his room to most likely put his bag away and change out of his school uniform. He, Inuyasha, and Kouga usually always complained about it trying to strangle them. I giggled lightly and reached for the band that was holding my hair together. I was about to pull it out when Miroku came back wearing just a plain white shirt and a pair of blue jeans. I tried not look too much, but I wasn't very successful.

"My, my, Sango, it seems as though you are checking me out," Miroku said smugly.

"Shut up," I growled out. He put his hands up in a general defense and laughed at my expression I was guessing. He walked into the kitchen and I could hear him getting out a pot and two cups. How that boy loved his tea…

I grabbed for the T.V. remote and pressed the power button. I changed the channel to a cartoon station and watched the random show. A couple of minutes later Miroku came back with two cups of warm tea. He handed one cup to me and I smiled. No lemon, just how I liked it and I was sure there were exactly four spoons of sugar with one spoon of honey. I took a sip and sighed out my satisfaction. I heard Miroku chuckle, but I ignored him.

"Are we going to watch this the whole time you're here?" he asked.

"I had planned on it, why do you want to watch something else?"

"Now that you mention it, I got a new porn movie and I'd really want to watch it with you. There are some really interesting positions I would like to try with you,"

"You're hilarious, you pervert," I said trying to contain myself. I had this perfect mental image of me 'accidently' spilling my tea all over his groin. Oh how I could already hear him scream in pain.

"Uhh, Sango, that smirk is starting to scare me," Miroku said nervously.

"Oh, I'm sorry Houshi, I was just imagining what it would be like to spill my tea on you accidently, you know, right where it matters the most," I grinned in satisfaction when he grimaced and placed a pillow over said area.

"You really scare me sometimes, Sango,"

I smiled widely at him and he laughed. It went like this for awhile, Miroku saying some perverted thing to me, and me threatening his 'thing' every time he said such nonsense. We laughed at the kid show that was on for its corniness. How these anime people came up with all of their shows, we had no idea. After about two more cups of tea Miroku decided it was time for food. I wasn't really hungry so I told him to go ahead and make something only for him. He protested at first but when I assured him again that I wasn't hungry, he finally gave up and went to make himself something to eat.

I began to change the channels again and settled on a movie that seemed interesting enough. That was until I realized the young woman was being abused by her college sweetheart, now her husband. I quickly changed the channel, not wanting to watch such a movie when it was possible the man in the other room knew my secret. I wonder if he's actually going to talk to me about it…and if he was when? I couldn't stand this anticipation and if he didn't bring it up I was going to leave. Awhile later Miroku came back with a plate of I'm not sure what, but I didn't feel like questioning it. He ate it silently while I changed the channel. Figured the only good thing would be that movie about the abused wife. I admitted silent defeat to myself and put it back on the channel I was watching before. I tried to remain as calm as possible every time he would hit her, but I would flinch when I saw his fist collide with her face. It just reminded me of when that man would hit me.

"Are you feeling alright Sango? You're face is kind of pale," he said reaching his hand over to feel my forehead for a fever I knew wasn't there.

"I'm fine," I said in a small voice. He didn't buy it. He placed his plate on the coffee table and looked at me.

"Sango, I need to talk to you about something,"

I froze on the spot. I literally felt every single part of my body becoming numb and I knew what he was going to ask. I looked over at him slowly and just looking into his eyes, I knew.

"What do you want to talk about?" I asked him, trying not to let my panic show.

"I saw something, today that made me kind of…shocked," he said, his eyes never leaving mine. I waited for it; I waited for him to tell me he knew my dad hit me. "I saw that you wear black boy shorts for your underwear type,"

Black…boy…shorts? I felt my lips open up into an 'o' and I saw Miroku's face change from serious to playfulness in a matter of seconds. I had no idea what to say to that. After stuttering for a few seconds I finally found the words.

"Black boy shorts? Is that seriously what you were going to say?" I asked. I was surprisingly not mad at him. More like relieved that he didn't know.

"Yup, I saw them when you went to look over the rail at school on the roof," he said leaning back into the couch while putting his arms behind his head. "I must admit, Sango, I thought you were the type to wear little pink bikini style underwear, like Kagome wears."

"I'm gonna tell Inuyasha you were looking up Kagome's skirt," I threatened.

"He's the one who told me," he said picking up his hands in defense, hearing that I just had to laugh.

"I can't believe our Inuyasha is secretly a pervert,"

"Of course he is, I taught him everything,"

"Shut up, Miroku," I said smiling. I looked over at the clock and sighed, it was time for me to leave. "Can you give me a ride home?"

"Sure, do you have to leave right now?"

"Yes, I do," I said standing up and stretching. I was about to bend over and get my bag but I realized Miroku was staring at my rear and I decided against it. "Miroku can you take my bag for me? I don't want you to see my boy shorts again,"

"Damn, I was hoping you would have bent over," he sighed. He got up and grabbed my bag then handed it to me. "Let us be on our way, shall we?" I nodded my head and he led the way out.

The car ride was silent again. He was humming along to the song and I looked out the window at the familiar scenery. I was thinking about how he just changed on it like that. Did he actually see my dad hitting us? Or was he just trying to tease me because he knew I was so tense. Whatever it was, I'm glad he didn't say anything about the abuse.

"Alright, Sango, we are at your house," he said putting the car into park. He looked over at me and smiled. "Maybe you should give me your boy shorts some time; I would love to have them,"

"I bet you would, you per—" I didn't finish my sentence. Right by our driveway was a car I had never seen before. I could feel my spirits lift, had mom finally come back? I hope so! "Thanks for the ride, Miroku, I'll see you tomorrow ok?"

"Alright, bye Sango," he said while looking at the car I was looking at. Before he could ask any questions I slammed the door shut and ran towards the house.

I heard him drive away and when I looked at the car again I saw someone sitting inside. It was a man I had never seen before. I stopped entirely and stared at him.

"Excuse me, do I know you?" I asked him.

"Um, no, but I know your mom," he said nervously. "She's inside talking to your dad,"

Upon hearing the news I ran inside, I hoped he wasn't hitting her. I mean she had finally come home and he was going to start hitting her? The man in the car though, who was he? I had never seen him before in my whole life.

I walked into the house and everything seemed well enough. I could hear a voice coming from what I thought was my parents' bedroom, but when I came closer I saw that it was coming from Kohaku's room. I walked closer to the door and when I peaked inside I saw Kohaku sitting on his bed, his head in his hands, and my father standing there glaring. I walked a little more and I saw my mother.

When she was living here, she had long hair but now it was short, almost like Ms. Higurashi's hair. There was something else to; she wasn't wearing any make up. She always had to wear make up to hide all the bruises on her face and arms. But now, she was completely bare. I walked fully into the room and Kohaku sensed my presence. He looked up right away and I saw the tears in his eyes.

"What's going on?" I asked when I saw his eyes. "Mom, what are you doing here?"

"I came to take Kohaku with me," she said, she hadn't looked at me yet.

"Where are you taking him?" I asked again. I could feel something brewing inside me, and I wasn't sure what it was.

"He's coming to live with me," she still hadn't looked at me. "The divorce has been finalized and I've got a court order to take Kohaku with me."

"What do you mean by court order?" I asked once again. "How come we didn't go to the hearings?"

"There was no need for you to be there," she answered. She was packing Kohaku's clothes in a large suite case that was sitting on his bed. Kohaku was still crying and my dad was just standing there while she packed.

"Wait, am I going to?" I asked hopeful. Finally, my mother looked up at me, and I could see it in her eyes. "I'm not…"

"I'm sorry, Sango, the judge said that you are of age and I can't legally take you away. Kohaku has to come with me, whether he likes it or not."

"Can't I just go with you anyways? If I'm old enough to choose it for myself can't I go with you?"

"I tried that approach too, but the judge said that if you were to come with me your father could charge me with kidnapping," she moved back towards my brother's closet and I was just standing there.

"What will happen if I do leave with you?"

"I'll press charges," I heard my dad say. "It's bad enough she's taking that piece of shit with her, I'm not letting her take you too,"

"Don't call my son that!" she yelled at him. I had never heard her yell at him like that before and I was a little shocked.

"I can call him whatever I want! And if he was your son you wouldn't have left him here with me you filthy whore! You would have taken him with you with that bastard outside!"

I didn't say anything as they argued over Kohaku and me. I just focused on my brother who was just sitting there, in as much shock as I was. He looked up at me and tried to smile but he couldn't force his lips up. After awhile of arguing my mother had managed to close his suite case and she pulled it up, not even wavering once with its weight.

"Come on, Kohaku, Takeshi is waiting for us in the car." My mother walked passed me and when she did I could see the tears evident in her eyes.

Kohaku stood up and walked passed me. He stopped outside his door frame and I could see the guilt in his eyes. Guilt of leaving me here I guess. He kept on walking and when he was out of sight my dad pushed me out of the way and I nearly fell to the floor. I caught my balance against the dresser and I quietly followed behind him towards the window. I saw him yelling at my mother as she placed my brother's clothes in the trunk of Takeshi's trunk. Kohaku was already sitting in the backseat with his seatbelt on, just looking down at the floor of the car. Takeshi had the car running already and was standing next to his door, tense. My mother finally got into the car and so did Takeshi. I watched as they drove off and I couldn't help but let the tears fall from my eyes.

It took me awhile to realize my dad was standing right next to me. What did finally wake me, was when his hand reached out and slapped me on the same cheek he had hit earlier today. I nearly fell to the ground again and when I was trying to fix myself my dad hit me again, this time with his fist. I cried out in pain, which must have set him off more because he hit me again right in my ribs knocking the air out of me. I tried crawling towards my room to put some distance between us but he grabbed my leg and pulled me back, kicking me in the process. I cried out again and he kicked me harder. The bruises were going to be bad this time…and I was too busy trying to figure out how I was going to cover the bruises on my knees and lower thighs. I heard him take off his belt and then I felt it collide with my back again. Tears sprung from my eyes as the belt hit me over and over again. He hit me a few more times then he stopped completely. He went to the kitchen and I figured I was safe for now. I began to get up but it hurt too much to even apply pressure to my arms. I began to pull myself across the floor instead. When I was near the hallway I felt my dad step on my back. I let out a cry of pain and he stepped down harder.

"Where do you think you're going?"

I didn't answer; instead I just lay there, waiting for him to say something. I heard him open his beer can and take a long drink from it. When he was done with it he threw the can and I felt it hit the back of my head. It could already feel a headache coming on from it. He removed his foot from my back.

"Go to your room, I can't even stand to look at you!" he went back into the kitchen, grabbed another beer, and sat down on the couch to watch trash T.V.

I tried once again to stand up but my legs weren't having it, instead I crawled like I had been earlier and I finally made it to my room. Once in I reached up and locked the door then crawled over to my bed. I used the edge of the bed to pull myself up and I had to bite my lower lip to keep from crying out in pain. I could taste blood from my lip and when I was finally on both legs I slowly made my way over to my mirror. I began to undress myself and when all my clothes were off, including my bra and underwear, I began to cry again.

Almost every inch of my body was covered in bruises. Big, dark, black ones covered my sides, and when I turned around the bruises on my back were a lot worse than they had been before. I could see around my right ankle the bruises of fingerprints. I didn't think my dad grabbed me that hard… I looked at my face and that same cheek from before now had a bruise on it from being hit three times. I grabbed the hair tie and pulled it off and I began to unbraid my hair. It landed lightly over my bruises but even that made it sting from pain.

I walked over to my closet and pulled out some stretchy pants and a long sleeved loose shirt. I returned to my dresser and pulled out clean undergarments. I carefully dressed myself and when I was done I went to lie on my bed, slowly getting on and lowering myself. I lay there for a few minutes and I remember thinking, thank goodness Kohaku isn't here anymore…

**A Little after One**

I'm not sure on what woke me up, but I was glad. I looked at the clock on my end table and it said it was fourteen minutes after one. I slowly got up and winced when my back arched a little, making the bruises hurt. I went towards the door and unlocked then opened it. It was dead silent in my house. I could hear my dad's heavy snoring coming from his room and I was glad he was sleeping.

I quietly made my way over to the bathroom and when I walked in there was a mess everywhere. What I mean by mess was well…it seems my dad had some company over and he got his 'mess' all over the floor. I felt the vomit start coming up so I turned around and went as quickly as I could to my room, shutting the door quietly behind me.

Once I had locked it I looked around my room. There was a picture on my wall of when Kohaku was first born; I was holding him in my arms. I was proud to be a big sister. There was another of him and me at a carnival. We were just getting off of a ride and we smiled real big just for the camera. For some reason, I reached over and took them down and placed them on my dresser. Why couldn't it be like this now? Why did we have to start getting abused? Why did my mom have to leave then come back just to take him away? Why did I have to stay here?

All these questions were swarming around in my head. I didn't have the answer to all of them, but I did to one. I didn't have to stay here and be abused. I could easily move out if I wanted to. I didn't know where I could go, but I'd rather live on the streets than in this hell. I went to my closet and grabbed out a bag big enough to carry all of my school uniforms and some of my regular clothes. After placing them all in there I went to my dresser and grabbed all of my socks, underwear, and bras and placed them in there as well. I went around my room grabbing all of the items I knew I would need, including my laptop. I exited my room and retrieved my toothbrush quickly, to disturbed to stay in there long enough because of the mess. I went back to my room and locked the door again and continued to pack everything including my shoes. I went to my jewelry box and pulled out various items from in there as well. One thing I left behind was the necklace my dad had given me when I was younger. It said 'daddy's girl' in cursive and ever since he started hitting us I refused to wear it.

I returned to my dresser and carefully took off the shirt I was wearing and placed it in my bag as well. I pulled out a spaghetti strap black shirt and put it on carefully then put on a black jacket. I grabbed my black vans and my bag and carried them all to the living room as quietly as possible. I placed them by the door then went back into my room for the last time. I picked up my school bag and when I was about to turn off the light I saw the two pictures of Kohaku and me. I walked back to my dresser and grabbed them, and then I turned and walked out of my room, turning off the light behind me and locking the door before I closed it for the last time.

When I reached the living room I placed my school shoes and house shoes into my bag and put on my vans. I quickly entered the security code so I could exit my house and took one more look around. I prayed I would never have to come back to this house. Without hesitation I opened the door with all of my stuff and closed the door to my past behind me.

* * *

**I would like to thank my cousin Samantha for yelling at me to update on my stories. If she wouldn't have yelled at me then I would have never gotten off my lazy ass to write this. So I think you, Sammy-chan. This chapter is for you!**

**Remember, reviews make the world go round,**

**Inumel-mel**

**p.s. Follow my story on twitter! (at)Inumel(underscore)mel**


	2. Kept in the Dark

_**I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.**_

**Scars and Cuts**

**Chapter Two**

**Kept in the Dark, But You Were There in Front of Me**

Leaving was the easy part, deciding where to go was a hard thing all on its own. As I got farther and farther away from my house, I could feel the adrenaline I had begin to go down and I could feel the weight of my bag on my shoulder and I could feel the strap begin to dig into my flesh and scratch against my bruises. I took it off and began dragging it against the floor. My eyes were getting heavier by the minute and I began to panic. What if I passed out? Would someone see me and help or would they just ignore me? Even worse, would I get raped or killed or both while I was unconscious?

I could feel my adrenaline begin to kick in again and before I knew it I was running. Even at the time I didn't realize my surroundings until I was on his street. I could see no lights on the street, it was pitch black. I quickly walked to his house and I saw his car parked in the driveway, the front light was off as well. Could it be possible that he wasn't there? Had Inuyasha and Kouga came to pick him off so they could do whatever it was they did when Kagome and I weren't around? I hoped not.

I made it to his door and I knocked, once than twice. I kept on knocking until the front light turned on and I could hear the locks begin to move. When Miroku opened the door I could tell he was shocked to see me standing there with my school bag and also my large black bag.

"Sango, what are you doing here so late?" he asked.

I couldn't answer, I couldn't do anything. I was so busy breathing in the aroma of his house. I was too busy taking in the sight of him in only his sweat pants, no shirt, and his hair down and wild from him being asleep.

"I…I…" I began, but nothing else could come out. I began to see little dots scatter across my vision and the last thing I heard before I passed out was the worry in Miroku's voice as I collapsed into his arms…

When I finally came to, I was laying on the very couch I had been sitting on before all of this happened, before my life really came crashing down. I could hear Miroku talking, but I wasn't sure who he was talking to at all. I tried sitting up but it hurt so much just to lift my head. It was pounding like an annoying drum. _Thump, thump, thump, thump…_

"Sango, are you awake?" I heard Miroku ask. I could see him clearly now. He had a shirt on and his hair was pulled back into it's usually ponytail.

"Yes, I am," I whispered. I wasn't sure if he heard me. I saw the phone go back up to his ear and he began talking again, too fast for me to hear.

"Miroku…" I whispered out. I had to get his attention; I had to tell him what had happened.

"Hold on," he said into the phone. "Sango what are you doing? Lay back down, I'll take you home in a little while,"

I felt myself panic. He was taking me home? I thought I could trust him but now I knew I couldn't. He was going to take me right back to the man who did this to me! I felt the need to protect myself take over and I struggled to get up again.

"Inuyasha, I'll talk to you tomorrow ok? I have to take Sango home before she gets in trouble, bye," he said hanging up then throwing the phone onto the love seat. "Sango, lay back down, you're going to hurt yourself more than you're already hurt,"

"I can't trust you! You're going to take me back to him and I can't go back, Miroku!" I said new tears springing into my eyes.

"I'm not going to take you back, Sango! I just told him that! He thinks that we fell asleep and that I just woke up and realized you were still here! Sango please calm down!"

I heard the sincerity in his voice and I let myself once again fall onto the couch. When my body collided with it I let out a small cry of pain and he came to kneel next to me on the couch.

"What happened to you, Sango…" he asked. I looked over at him and I could tell he knew the answer. I didn't say anything, I just kept looking. When I couldn't look at him any longer, I tore my gaze away and focused on my feet. "It's true then, isn't it?"

I'm not sure if he saw me, but I nodded my head very lightly. I guess he did because he let out a curse then he grabbed my hand which made me look at him.

"How long has this been going on Sango? Don't lie to me anymore. No more lies,"

"For five years…" I said tearing my eyes away from him again. "I'm not sure for the reason, but it happened five years ago and it's been happening every day since then…"

His grip on my hand tightened and I could feel myself squeezing his hand back as I spilled to him everything. I told him the truth about my mom and it didn't even seem to shock him at all. Had I not done a good enough job at hiding the truth? When I got up to today, I saw him tense at every detail I gave him. When I was done, he said nothing for a long time.

"Why didn't you say anything to me, Sango?"

"I didn't want anyone to know, I was too ashamed that I let this happen,"

"You didn't let anything happen. This was his entire fault; don't ever blame yourself for something that wasn't in your control."

I said nothing as he continued to stare at me. After awhile of silence he sighed and offered me something to drink and eat. I shook my head no; I had no appetite at all. He started arguing back about my health but when he saw my face he dropped the subject.

I looked at nothing in particular as he went about his business in the kitchen. I assumed he was making himself something to eat but he didn't. When he came back he had two mugs of something hot. He handed one to me, even though I refused.

"Just drink it; it'll give you some strength,"

I took the cup from him and when I smelt it I nearly handed it back to him. But when I looked at his face I decided just to drink it. I held my nose and chugged down the bitter liquid. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever tasted! I didn't ask Miroku what it was while I placed the cup down on the coffee table. He looked triumphant with what just happened. I glared at him and when I tried to sit up it didn't hurt as much.

"Did that make you feel better?"

"Yes, even though it tasted disgusting," I admitted. He laughed lightly and when he looked at me my heart did a crazy flip inside my chest.

"Sango, I'm going to ask you something, and you can say no to me if you don't want to do it, alright?"

"You're not going to ask me to have sex with you, right?" I asked drawing away from him.

"No, Sango, I'm actually being really serious here," he said looking into my eyes. "So if you don't want to, just tell me,"

I nodded my head and he grabbed onto my hand again.

"Can I see them? Can I see your bruises?"

At first I hesitated. How could I possibly let him see my other side? I worked too hard to keep this part of me under wraps and I was just getting used to the idea that someone actually knew. It was a little hard to get used to. But when I looked at him, I knew I could trust him. I took my hand out of his and pulled down the zipper to my jacket. I took it off slowly and when he saw them, I can't even begin to describe how he looked at them.

I watched his hand reach out to touch one that had begun to fade on my arm. He looked at me and then looked at my back. I figured he could see the ones that were visible from on top of my shirt. So, I did something I thought I would never do in my life, I took off my shirt and he saw me in only my bra. For awhile, Miroku only stared at my face. I think he was in shock that I took off that much clothing or it might have been my bruises.

When he didn't do anything I turned around and showed him my back. I heard him shift around a little and then I felt his hands lightly touching my bruises. I could hear him breathing heavily as his hands trailed down my back. When he reached my lower back I sucked in a deep breath. My back had always been sensitive, but my lower back was even worse. He couldn't sense my turn on and he kept touching back there. I let out a small moan and he pulled his hands back.

"Did I hurt you?"

"No, just the opposite…" I said embarrassed.

"Are you saying that—?"

"Don't say anything!" I said grabbing my shirt. I put it back on and faced him. He saw the bruise I had on my chest and touched it. "Miroku…"

"How did you get this one?"

I looked away before I answered, "I ran into a corner when I was getting something off the floor in the kitchen,"

"Seriously, you're not lying?"

"No," I said my face turning red.

"My, my, Sango, you are something else," he said smiling.

I stared into his eyes and he stared into mine. Something was clicking inside of us and I could tell in that moment that something was going to happen. He sat up straighter and grabbed onto my face gently, being careful with the bruise I had on my cheek. He whispered out my name and closed his eyes. I was to frozen to even close mine, but when his lips were merely inches from mine, the damn phone just had to ring.

Miroku let out a frustrated sigh and let go of my face before crawling to where the phone was located. He answered with a rough hello and I'm guessing the other person snapped back a reply because Miroku let out another sighed and said that we were just leaving back to my dad's house and then hung up.

"Inuyasha always ruins everything, even when he doesn't intend to," Miroku said half kidding.

I looked up at him from my seat on the couch and he stared into my chocolate orbs. Something told me that he wanted to try again, but I just couldn't. I may have had feelings for the guy but I couldn't afford to fall in love when I had such a bigger problem in my hands. I gave him a small smile and he gave one back. He walked away after a moment with the phone in his hand. A moment later the water in the kitchen was running and I got up to see what he was doing.

Taking as much time as I needed to get to the kitchen, I finally saw him splashing his face with cold water. Had I made such an effect on him? I wasn't too sure…it was possible wasn't it? He looked over at me and smiled. I smiled back and for some reason, his hair caught my attention. I had never seen it this wild before. Granted I had seen it down, but it looked nice and presentable. But his hair now, disheveled from sleep, made him look…sexy. Wait, did I just say Miroku was sexy? I think I need to sleep…

"Um, Miroku, can I ask something?"

"Go ahead, Sango," he answered while drying off his face with a towel.

For awhile I forgot what I was going to ask him, I just kept looking at his semi-muscular body. When he kept staring at me I snapped out of it.

"Where am I supposed to sleep?"

"There's an extra bedroom you can sleep in. That's usually where Inuyasha sleeps when he stays over, so you can occupy the space for now," he grabbed my hand and I had to contain myself from hyperventilating.

When we entered the room it looked the same as it usually did. Light green walls with white bordering, tan colored blankets with green stripes running vertically on the material. The dresser there was the same tan color as the blankets and the carpet was an off white. I sat down on the bed and it felt almost the same. The last time I sat on this bed it was harder, since it was new I'm guessing. But now that someone had slept on it, it was let hard and it felt a lot better.

"I hope it's alright," he said.

"The bed is fine, nice and soft," I said running my fingers up and down the blanket.

"You know where the bathroom is, you're welcome to anything in the fridge if you get hungry, and if you need anything, anything at all, you know where my bedroom is," he said. "Oh, I'll go get your bag,"

After he left from the doorway I looked around the room trying to take everything in at once. The ceiling was the same off white color as the carpet and I never realized it was that color in the first place. I felt a little dumb since I've been coming over to his house and hanging out in this room for as long as I can remember. A few moments later he placed my bag onto the dresser and he gave me a heart melting smile that I nearly passed out.

"I'll see you in the morning, oh and we're not going to school tomorrow,"

"How come we aren't?"

"We need to get something figured out for you; you're not going back to that house as long as you're seventeen,"

"But Miroku…"

"No buts," he argued back. "We'll talk about this tomorrow, get some sleep,"

He walked away after, leaving me alone in the room. I stuck my tongue out at the now closed door and stood up slowly, making my way to where my bag was at. I reached in and grabbed some shorts I packed then began stripping off my bottoms. I put them on and once they were on comfortably I removed my bra and tossed it onto the floor along with my pants. I peeled my socks off and just tossed them next to my bra and pants. Reaching in my bag once again I debated whether or not I should brush my teeth. I shrugged my shoulders and headed off towards the bathroom anyways.

The bathroom was normal sized I guess. The toilet was directly in the middle of the room up against the left wall. Next to it on its left was the sink that had a cup that held two sets of toothbrushes and a tube of toothpaste. I vaguely remembered that Miroku had convinced Inuyasha to keep a toothbrush there so that he would never forget his toothbrush again. I'm pretty sure Inuyasha complained that it was gay for him to leave a toothbrush and I had to keep myself from laughing to loud. I turned the water on and wet the bristles on the brush and put a decent amount of toothpaste. I began brushing my teeth vigorously and as I looked at myself in the mirror at all my bruises I began to feel my self esteem go down. There's no way that Miroku had wanted to kiss me…he probably just felt bad for me.

I spit out the toothpaste and cleaned my mouth off. I hesitated at putting my toothbrush in there along with Miroku's and Inuyasha's. I sighed and placed it in there anyways, I'm sure I was going to be here for awhile. I took one last look at the bathroom and when I began walking out I ran into a very solid something.

"Oh my goodness, Miroku, you scared the hell outta me!" I exclaimed as I stumbled back.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to, I heard the water running and I came to investigate," he said grinning.

"You're such a liar, you know I'm the only one in the house," I said trying to exit the bathroom, he wasn't having it. "Are you going to move so I can go sleep? You're the one who said that I should sleep,"

"I know, but I remembered something that I just have to tell you,"

"What would that be?"

He leaned in closer to me, so close that I could feel his warm breath along my neck. "I need to tell you that there's been a ghost in my house recently, so you need to be careful,"

I glared at him, "Get real Houshi, now if you'll please move, I'd like to go to sleep,"

He stood there for awhile and only stared into my eyes. I could feel my breath coming into short gasps as he got closer again, just like on the couch. His eyes didn't leave mine as his lips lightly brushed against mine. He lingered for a moment then whispered:

"Goodnight, Sango,"

I tried forming a reply, but my mind was blank. He hadn't even fully kissed me and I couldn't even say anything! He smiled at me and walked back to his room where I heard the door click shut after him. Letting out a small sigh, I walked out of the bathroom and into my temporary room. I closed the door behind me and I let a big smile spread across my face. So he really did like me? I squealed slightly and then regained my composer. I couldn't afford a boyfriend, not right now. I had to deal with my dad first then I could deal with Miroku. I pulled back the blankets and settled into bed. As I lay on my stomach, I thought of what tomorrow would be like. What could two teenagers possibly do against an adult? More importantly, how could I get out of my father's custody without getting myself, and Miroku, killed?

I've never had nightmares before, but last night was the only exception. It was just me running in a ball gown that was a beautiful silver silk material. My brown hair was pulled up halfway with curls spilling over my shoulders with a purple flower hair ornament in my hair and I could hear my high heels clicking with every step I took. The dress was strapless and flowed out so beautifully that I knew it had to be a dream. It was really cold; I only knew so because I could see my breath fogging my vision every time I breathed out. I looked ahead and I could vaguely see a silhouette about half a mile in front of me. The silhouette came into view and I could see my brother, Kohaku. I tried yelling to him but no sound came out. I tried again and again but nothing. Suddenly, Kohaku turned into Miroku and yet again I tried calling out to him, but it was useless.

I'm not sure how, but I ended up tripping. I landed on the floor and I heard my dress rip, making it cut off to my knee. My legs held bruises that I knew had faded long ago. I went to move my hair out of my way but when I placed my hand there I got a splitting headache. I brought my hand back down and blood was covering my hand. I looked down at the dress and now it was almost completely blood red. Every inch of my body was in pain and when I finally looked up my father was standing in front of me, a knife on the floor beside him. I saw his lips move, but I couldn't hear anything, all I saw was the gun that was in his hand and the moment he pulled the trigger, the gun aiming for my head, I let out an inaudible scream and then I woke up.

My heart was pounding so hard that I couldn't hear anything but my beating organ. Sweat covered my forehead and the rest of my body and I could feel that my nightshirt was almost drenched in sweat. I threw off the blankets and headed towards the door. The house was quiet and I began to feel a little nervous. Where was Miroku? The first place I went to was the kitchen but there was nothing except a note. It read:

_Sango,_

_I went to the school to pick up some things from my locker. Hopefully I won't run into Inuyasha and the others while I'm there. If you're hungry, you can eat some cereal until I get there. Don't leave the house, okay? See you soon._

_Miroku_

I placed the note back on the counter and let out a small sigh. I wasn't very hungry since that dream but I was pretty sweaty. After deciding to take a shower, I walked back into my room and grabbed the clothes I would need after I finished showering. I proceeded to the bathroom and got in, not even bothering to lock the door behind me. I stripped out of my sweaty clothes and left them on the floor so I could step on something when I got out of the shower. I stood in the tub and turned on the water, adjusting it to the temperature I wanted. I pulled the nozzle to turn the shower on and was greeted by the warm water.

I let out a small sigh of contentment and began wetting my hair. I looked over at where my shampoo and conditioner would have been but I had to mentally kick myself. Only one person lived in this house and he was a guy. I let out a frustrating sigh and picked up Miroku's shampoo. It was Old Spice and when I smelled it, it actually smelt really good. I shrugged my shoulders and applied some into my hair and washed it thoroughly. After rinsing it out and applying some conditioner I selected the Axe body wash Miroku had. It was called 'Dark Temptation' and when I smelled it I let out a small moan, which really surprised me. It smelt just like him, the dark luscious scent that I loved so much. I quickly began washing my body with the scent, knowing that I would love to just stand there naked smelling my own body, regardless of how weird that sounded.

After rinsing off my body I stepped out fully naked. I reached in the cabinet and grabbed a fluffy royal blue towel that was sitting in there. I began to dry myself off and when I did I grabbed the clean clothes I brought with me only to realize that my bra was on the floor in my 'bedroom.' I let out a sigh of frustration and wrapped the towel around my body, not to tight since I didn't want to hurt my bruises. I opened the door and stuck only my head out; making sure Miroku still wasn't back yet. I tiptoed to my room and when I went in I grabbed my bra and glared at it. I spun around and when I did I collided with something solid yet again.

"Um, hey, Sango," I heard Miroku say. I looked up at him and I could see he had a slight blush over his face. I was pretty sure I was cherry red.

"Hello…" I said quietly. "I was just, um, getting my bra, and um, because I forgot it in here when I was taking a shower, so I um, came back to the room because I thought you were still gone but um, you're here!" I blabbered on like an idiot. "I think I'm going to go back to the restroom now and finish…"

I would have run back into the restroom if it wasn't for Miroku, still standing in my way. There was already a protest on my tongue but before I could do anything, he reached his arm down to the bottom of my hair and grabbed a lock. He brought up back up to his face and smelled it.

"Have you been using my shampoo?" he asked with a grin. He leaned into me and sniffed my shoulder. "And my body soap?"

"Um, uh, there was no girl shampoo and my hair felt really dirty so I used some of yours because that's all there was," I stuttered like an idiot. "I'm sorry! I'll go out and buy some floral scented ones for me and I'll even buy you more I'm really—"

"Stop apologizing," he said fiercely. "I like the way it smells on you…"

I shivered at his words and when I felt something wet come in contact with my skin I had to keep in my moan of pleasure. Did Miroku really just lick my shoulder? There's no way!

"You taste good," he said huskily.

"Um, Miroku…" I said trying to keep my voice from shaking. "I know this is the worst timing but, I can't afford to date right now…let alone anything like this…"

"I know you can't Sango, it's just that…never mind. Go ahead and get dressed. I'll go and make us some breakfast,"

I stood in my doorway, holding the damn bra that put me in the position I was just in. I heard pots and pans banging together and the fridge opening and closing. I walked back into the restroom, closing the door again, and I began to get dressed. I pulled on some blue jean pants that I packed and a plain black wife beater shirt. I wrapped the towel around my hair and grabbed all my stuff and took it back to my room.

After I took all of my belongings into my room, I could smell the food cooking. My tummy started rumbling and I realized just how hungry I was. I took off the towel and grabbed my brush and began brushing out the tangles. I left my hair down so it could dry and I headed towards the kitchen where all the good smelling food was coming from.

"What are you cooking, Miroku?" I asked, sitting down on the chair.

"Just a little of everything," he answered. "I remembered that you like waffles."

My smile was really wide as he said the word waffle. It was true that they were my favorite and one a few occasions Miroku had made them for me. It didn't matter what time it was, Miroku would make them. He made the best waffles in the world!

"You know me so well, Houshi,"

"I like to think so,"

His words pretty much stuck a knife in my heart. He didn't look at me as a glared into the back of his head, I'm sure he realized that I was glaring at him but he was too busy to turn around. I let out a sigh, which I know he heard, and started tapping my fingers on the table impatiently. I knew this would drive him crazy.

"Sango, you know how much that annoys me," he said, finally. He placed my waffles in front of me and they had a lot of syrup and nuts on top. Just the way I liked it.

"I know it does, that's why I did it," I was about to cut off a piece and shove it in my mouth but he took them away. "Hey, I was going to eat that, you know?"

"I know, but if you plan on annoying me like you were doing, you can't eat," he said taking it back towards the stove.

By this point, I was angry, hurt, and hungry. Three things I should never be at once. I stood up from my chair, nearly knocking it over in the process, and marched over to where my waffles were being held hostage. I could see the glint of amusement in his eyes although he wore a very serious face. I had a feeling I would most likely win this one easily.

"I swear Houshi, if you don't give me back my damn waffles I'm going to kill you!"

"How about, I give them back to you on one condition?"

"What condition?" I muttered through gritted teeth.

"Why don't you give me a kiss for them? One kiss and I'll give you all the waffles in the world,"

In all honesty, I almost gave in. I almost reached up and gave him the biggest kiss of my life but like I said, almost. Instead I looked at his chest and shrugged my shoulders. When I looked back up at him, his eyes no longer displayed his playfulness. Instead, he had this look of, could it possibly be, lust? Looking back down I could feel a blush creep up on my face and instead of chickening out, I quickly went and planted a kiss right on his chest. I looked up at him and I smirked, this had caught him off guard.

"You said a kiss, but you didn't say where. Now give me my waffles, I won them," I didn't wait for him to give them to me, instead I grabbed them from his hand and walked back to my original spot on the table. "Did you make bacon?"

He finally was brought out of his shock with my simple question. He looked over at me and smiled. "Yes, I made bacon, but I think I should do what I did earlier, just make it a little more specific,"

"How about, you just give me some damn bacon,"

Miroku laughed but obliged. He chatted with me about some non important things that had happened at school while he visited and while he talked he set down some bacon on my plate and served me a glass of milk. Even I had to admit, his cooking was better than mine. I guessed it was because Miroku had been alone most of his life. His guardian, up until recently, had taken care of him when his mom split and then when his father died but even at that, Mushin hadn't really taken care of him, more like Miroku took care of Mushin. From a small age Miroku had learned how to cook and by the time he knew it, he loved it.

While I was thinking about this, Miroku had sat down in front of me and began eating his own food. His waffles just had syrup, so plain. I took a big bite out of one of my waffles and I could feel the syrup dripping off my chin. I began making little noises of protest and he laughed the whole time. In my mind I was cursing him out but I wasn't too sure if he understood me or not. I grabbed a napkin and wet it before whipping it off. I glared at him and threw the now wet and sticky napkin at him, which he easily dodged.

"C'mon now, Sango, it was funny," he said still laughing.

"Maybe to you, but not to me, it felt so gross and I just took a bath too!"

He laughed for awhile longer while I glared at him. In no time we finished our waffles and I helped him clean up all the dishes. He washed and rinsed while I dried and put them all away. When we were finished he sat down on the couch and I sat on the love seat, my legs tucked under me.

"So…you said yesterday that you were going to help me, just how exactly are you going to do that?" I asked him curiously.

He had this look on his face that shoed he was really thinking about it. But then he had to open his big, perverted mouth and ruin all the respect I had for him, well whatever was left of it anyway.

"You could always marry me, I'm sure then you'd be able to get away from him, and we could get past our little friendship faze,"

"Shut up, Miroku, I'm being serious here!"

"So am I,"

When I looked over at him, I knew he was being honest. You would think my face would get tired of blushing, either that or it would permanently have a blush painted onto my face, but everything this guy was saying struck me like lightning inside my heart and I don't think I would have minded being married to him. But we were too young, not to mention my dad would surely come after us. He never knew I had boys for friends and I would like to keep it like that, at least for the time being. He was still staring at me and he gave me this huge smile that almost made me say yes, almost.

"Miroku, that is not going to happen,"

"You hurt me with your words Sango, but I shall withdraw my proposal," he looked away towards where the T.V. was at and let out a very loud sigh. "I'm not really sure what we're going to do, to be honest. What we could possibly do, is talk to a lawyer and see the different things that could possibly get you out. I'm sure you can become independent on your own, but I'm afraid you might have to live on your own."

"You don't want me to live by myself?"

"I'd rather have you close by, in case your dad does find where you are, if that were to happen. I'd want you to be at least a few blocks away in case such thing would happen. But in all honesty, I'd rather have you here. It wouldn't be the same not being able to see you all the time,"

I looked away, too embarrassed and excited to look at him. My feelings were starting to get the best of me and I knew that if I stayed here, I'd end up doing something I may regret in the future. But when I looked over at him I just had to smile. This man cared so much for me it was so unreal. I had always figured all men were the same, they looked nice and caring on the outside, but on the inside, they were horrible monsters. But seeing this man, I knew he was exactly the opposite. He cared for me, he wanted me safe, and hell he may even love me. Wait a minute, maybe not that last one…

"Why does it always look like you're arguing with yourself?"

"Because I am," I answered not looking at him. I was pretty sure my face was still read from my embarrassment.

"What are you arguing about?"

"Nothing really important, anyways, what do you wanna do today? I mean it's barely eleven fifteen, we have plenty of time to do whatever,"

"How about, we go down to the beach?"

"It's too cold for the beach,"

"It's only the beginning of fall, it's not going to be that cold,"

"I didn't even bring a bathing suit, what am I going to swim in?" He smiled at me and I glared. If he said naked I swear I would kill him…

"I'll buy you one when we get to the beach, now come on I'm bored and there's nothing to do at my house except sit around or have sex and since you won't have sex with me we might as well go to the beach!"

"You're such a pervert…but alright, we can go to the beach," He threw his fist in the air and I laughed. Miroku can be such a moron at times. I stood up from the couch and stretched and when I did one of the bruises stretches out too making me wince in pain. "I hope you're planning on getting me a one piece…"

"I had wanted to get you a two piece that barely covered anything, but if you want a one piece that's fine,"

"You do know why I want one, right?"

Miroku looked over at me and sighed; "Now I do, forgive me Sango for being so careless. If it makes you feel better, you can always wear one of my longer shirts over it,"

"Perhaps I will…I don't want everyone to see them and freak out…"

"They would have no reason too, if they're only looking at your bruises they aren't looking at you, and they would have to be stupid because, Sango, you truly are beautiful,"

I was shocked into silence by this man once again. I didn't think I could blush anymore, but, alas, there was a blush on my face. Instead of looking away I looked right into his eyes as he moved closer and closer to me. Was he going to kiss me again? If he did would I kiss him back or just stand there? I had lost my first kiss in middle school when I dated this one guy but would it be different a second time? I hoped so, my first kiss was ridiculous!

Miroku was right in front of me now. I kept my gaze into his and I could barely see his right hand moving up, but what I felt was his right hand rest against my bruised cheek tenderly. His other hand went down to my waist and ever so gently; he pulled me against his body. I let out a small sigh and I shivered in delight when his left hand touched the small of my back. His violet colored eyes looking into my chocolate ones and the moment his lips would have touched mine; there was a bang on the door.

"Miroku, I know you're in there! And I know Sango is too I can smell her! Open the door!" Inuyasha yelled. He kept banging on the door waiting for one of us to answer but it seemed as if Miroku couldn't tear his eyes away from mine.

"You better open the door before Inuyasha breaks it down…" I whispered out. He pulled away from me rather fast like and I felt a cold breeze hit me. Was it always this cold when Miroku wasn't around?

I watched as he went towards the door and unlocked it, letting in a very pissed off looking half demon and right behind him was a very worried looking human girl.

"Sango, oh my goodness, why weren't you at school? And why are you here of all places? What's going on? Miroku what did you do to her?" Kagome shot off angrily. So like Kagome, she doesn't give anyone time to talk.

"Hey, I didn't do anything! I would have if you two didn't barge in like you did,"

I swear by the end of my day my face was going to permanently stay red. Kagome looked at me in shock and Inuyasha had this weird smirk on his face that I wished I could slap off. Miroku on the other hand, looked both calm and angry, if such a thing were possible. There was a moment of silence in which Kagome and Inuyasha were just staring at Miroku and I. They were waiting for an explanation and I wasn't sure I wanted to give them one.

"Alright, both of you lied last night when you said you were taking Sango home," Inuyasha stated breaking the silence. "Don't lie because I can smell Sango everywhere in this house and it's very recent. Not to mention I can smell her scent coming from the guest room. So you two have a lot of explaining to do,"

Once again, silence. I wasn't sure what to say, this was just all too soon for me. I breathed in a deep breath and I was about to spill when Miroku spoke first.

"If you really must know, then I will tell you," he said while standing next to me. "Since you guys are so nosey, I'll just come out and say it. Sango and I are dating, we've been dating for a month already, but my dearest love Sango wasn't ready to say anything yet because she was so shy. She only stayed because we plan to move in together and she wanted to see how it would be like. That's why she spent the night,"

You know those parts in anime, where everyone is just looking at the person who spoke such dumb words, meaning Miroku, and they had sweat drops all over them while the person who was embarrassed, that would be me, is just standing there ready to beat the crap out of the person who said dumb things? Well, that would have been all of us right at this very moment.

"Are you being serious? It's kind of hard to tell but judging by Sango's face I'm pretty sure you're lying to us Houshi," Inuyasha said, once again breaking the silence.

"Of course he's lying!" I yelled out. "Miroku, you're such an idiot!" I looked over at him and he smiled that stupid grin of his.

"Sango, please, tell us what's wrong. We're your best friends, Sango, and we want to be here for you, but we can't if you won't say anything,"

"I know, Kagome, but I'm not ready just yet," I said looking up at her. I regretted it because she had the most painful look on her face and I wish I could take it back but, I wasn't ready for everyone to know the truth. "I know I'm being selfish but I just can't, not yet,"

I sat back down on the couch I had once occupied and Miroku sat down next to me. I put my head in my hands and I could feel Miroku gently touching my arm, comforting me into knowing I was right there if I needed him. I heard Kagome and Inuyasha sit down on the bigger couch, just staring at us I was pretty sure. Kagome was sniffling in the background and I felt horrible for making my best friend cry. I am horrible…I've brought so much pain to my friends. I wasn't even a good friend to them, and I didn't deserve them. I looked up and my eyes met Inuyasha's. It's almost like he knew what was going on. I wouldn't put it past him; he was a demon after all. He could probably see past the makeup I used on some parts of my body, namely my cheeks and parts of my hands. His golden eyes kept staring into mine and I had to hang my head in shame.

"I'm sorry…I'm so sorry," I sobbed. "I'm such a horrible person for keeping this from you; I'm sorry Kagome and Inuyasha. I should have told you guys, I should have even told Kouga. I should have told all of you the moment it happened and maybe it wouldn't have gotten this far, I'm so sorry you guys!"

"Sango what is is that happened? Please tell us what happened that has made you like this!" Kagome said crying too.

"I can't…I can't get it out. I know what I want to say but it won't form words," I said like an idiot.

"Do you want me to tell them?" Miroku asked.

"No, you've done so much for me already, I'll tell them myself…" I managed to say. I was starting to hiccup and that was never a good sign. I hoped that I wouldn't pass out from lack of air.

"Take your time, Sango," Inuyasha said. "We're still going to be here, even if you do pass out, and you will if you don't calm the hell down!"

That Inuyasha, always so understanding, I thought. I started laughing at my inner thoughts and I was sure they thought I was crazy. But then again, I think I'm crazy too. I took in a deep breath and looked at first Inuyasha, then Kagome, and lastly, Miroku.

"Alright, I'll tell you everything, from the beginning until the end, but please don't say anything until after I finished, ok?" Kagome nodded eagerly and Inuyasha just feh'd his agreement. I took in another deep breath and looked down at my hands as I muttered those three words. "I was abused,"

* * *

**And so ends another chapter. I was trying to make them longer than the actual chapters I wrote for the original story, but I didn't want to drag this chapter out more than it already has. But I'm rather proud of myself.**

**Sorry for the long update. I don't like to force out my writing very much because then it comes out crappy and I'm pretty anal about how everything goes. I might even rewrite this chapter later on because I'm still not very happy about the middle and part of the ending.**

**So now the gang (well half of it, the important half) knows about Sango. How will they react? Well, you're gonna have to wait until chapter three.**

**Thank you everyone who reviewed to this story it really means a lot to me.**

**Miroku: ****Thanks for the review and I hope you're still eagerly awaiting this update. Sorry it took me so long!**

**Remember, reviews make the world go round,**

**Inumel-mel**

**p.s. can someone please tell me why some people think Kagome's eyes are blue?**

**p.s.s. follow my story on twitter! (at)Inumel(underscore)mel**


	3. You Don't Know How You Betrayed Me!

_**I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.**_

**Scars and Cuts**

**Chapter Three**

**You Don't Know How You Betrayed Me!**

Now that everyone knew my secret, I waited for them to say something. Inuyasha didn't look very shocked, just more hurt. But Kagome…she was really crying now. For a long time she didn't say anything, all she did was cry and gasp until finally Inuyasha had to tell her to calm down already. She looked up at me and spoke.

"Why didn't you say anything to me, or to any of us? Did you think that we were going to think you were a liar?"

"I didn't think it would be a big deal…it's already the end of the school year and I was going to move out as soon as I turned eighteen and I was going to get a good job and support myself and then get custody of Kohaku…I didn't want to burden you with this until after I was free…"

"Now that we know, what are you going to do?" Inuyasha asked me. "You obviously have to have some kind of a plan,"

"Right before you got here we were discussing that," Miroku answered for me. "The only thing we came up with is that maybe she could talk to a lawyer and see what could happen,"

"I can ask my dad about that," Inuyasha answered.

"But won't that mean he would know that Sango left?" Kagome asked him.

"He won't send her back if he knows what's going on," he said. "He could even talk to the police about it and send her with her mother or into a foster home."

"I would rather live anywhere but those two choices," I spoke. "As much as I would love being with Kohaku, my dad said he would press charges on my mom with kidnapping if I lived with her. If my mom went to jail we'd end right back with him and back in square one."

"She does have a point, Inuyasha," Kagome agreed.

"You're right, she does," he agreed also. I watched as he began rubbing his chin while he thought about a solution to my problem. "I know, I'll talk to my dad today about it and see what he says. If you guys want you can come over to my house and hang out."

"You know, Inuyasha," Miroku spoke. "You're being awfully nice,"

He blushed, "I'm trying to help out a friend you idiot! Now if you're going to come then let's go!"

I had to hide my laugh from him, because I knew he would glare at me and I didn't want to be glared at. I got up from where I was sitting and walked back into my room to grab some socks and my vans. Once those objects were retrieved I dug around in my bag and pulled out my magenta eye shadow and quickly put some on before I ran to the bathroom to brush my teeth. I could hear Inuyasha and Miroku talking about something and I could hear nothing from Kagome. I guess she was just sitting there staring off into space like she does sometimes. I spit out the used toothpaste and rinsed my mouth out before I retreated back into my room. When I walked in Kagome was sitting on my bed, staring at the wall. She looked up when she heard me walk in and she gave me a small smile, she obviously wanted to talk.

"How are you feeling about all this, Sango?"

"It's a little hard to get used to, you know, the fact that you guys know." I said honestly. Kagome deserved only the truth from me. I grabbed my socks and slipped them on both feet and continued. "But if you meant about the whole abuse thing, then I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm only worried about how Kohaku is feeling in all of this mess. I hope he's happy with my mother, as happy as he can be after only a day of being with her and her new boyfriend. I just really don't want him to worry about me,"

"I'm pretty sure he is, Sango. I know how close you both were and I wish that he was here with you instead of with your mother. If not that, then that you both were with her."

"I wished that at first also, but it would have meant leaving all of you guys behind and I didn't want that anymore then leaving Kohaku behind,"

"Are you going to see him?"

"Of course, I just don't know when, but hopefully it'll be soon,"

"Will you two stop talking? Let's go already!" Inuyasha yelled from the living room.

"Oh Inuyasha, ever so graceful," Kagome said making a face.

I laughed at her and she got up and walked back to the living room so she could put on her shoes. I grabbed mine and jogged to the living room where Inuyasha and Kagome were glaring at each other. I looked at Miroku and he shrugged his shoulders, obviously just as confused as I was. I figured it was just their normal, so I proceeded to put on my shoes. Once we were all ready we walked out but not before Miroku grabbed his car keys.

"Aren't you going to ride with us?" Kagome asked.

"No, this way when we're done we can come back home,"

She nodded her head and walked to the passenger side of Inuyasha's car. Miroku and I got into his car and he started the engine and we were greeted by loud music. I covered my ears and glared at Miroku and he just grinned back at me. After lowering the music he backed out of the driveway and followed Inuyasha to his house. The ride was mostly silent again with just the music playing. I guess he didn't have anything to say either because I was just as quiet as he was. We followed Inuyasha's red car all the way to a nicer part of the neighborhood.

Tall houses were all I could see once we did enter his neighborhood. Three story and even four story structures were all around us making me feel very much like an outsider. Despite knowing Inuyasha for as long as I had I never had gotten used to his own house that he shared with his parents. One thing I did like about his house was hat it was the only two story house in the whole neighborhood. At first they had lived in a huge four story mansion but, according to Kagome, they moved into a smaller one when first, Sesshomaru, their older half-brother moved out, and then later when Akira moved to New York.

While I was thinking back on my thoughts I hadn't realized that we were already at Inuyasha's house, Miroku had to snap at me to catch my attention and I knew that I had, one again, started blushing. We stepped out of his car and headed towards the front door where Inuyasha and Kagome were busy taking off their shoes and bickering about who knows what. Once we entered into his house I let a small smile grace my lips. It had been awhile since I had been to this house, and seeing the cream colored walls again made me feel warm inside, a feeling I hadn't hand since who knows when. I put some of the guest slippers they had while Miroku and Kagome both put on their very own pair of house slippers. They had been coming here for so long it almost seemed natural for them to have their own.

I then noticed how quiet it was in the house, apparently his dad was still at work. His father was, obviously, a lawyer and his mother had been a very successful fashion designer/model before she retired after having Akira. We all walked into the loft area and sat down on the red velvet couches they had in there, they were very comfortable, despite their appearance. Inuyasha was the first to grab the remote and began surfing through all the channels at his demon speed, not giving us a chance to say we wanted to watch something, I guess he did that on purpose so he could watch what he wanted to. What an ass…

"Won't your mom get mad if she finds out were here?" Kagome asked in a bored tone.

"You know she's not gonna care, I'm sure she can even write us an excuse saying that we were all sick after doing who knows what last night,"

Kagome shrugged her shoulders and kicked off her house shoes and placed her legs up onto Inuyasha a few inches above his knees. They were so comfortable around each other it was weird. I suppose people think that about Kohaku and I also…we don't have a typical brother and sister relationship like every other brother and sister have. Perfect example was Kagome and Souta. They argued a lot more often than Kohaku and I had. Maybe it was only because we were abused…that could possibly be it. Seemed most logical than anything else. I watched as Inuyasha finally settled onto some random cartoon on a random channel. For awhile it seemed as if we were just here hanging out like we always did. But no…we were here to ask questions, questions that would have never been brought up to the surface if no one knew. There I go pitting myself again…

"Is anyone hungry?" Inuyasha asked.

"We ate before we got here," Miroku spoke.

"Speaking of food," I said. "Did you ever get those five other flavors of ramen, Inuyasha?"

"You told her Kagome!" Inuyasha nearly yelled.

"Of course I did! It was ridiculous that we had to wait in line just for some new flavors of soup! What is it with demons and ramen anyways?"

Inuyasha didn't say anything; he just glared at Kagome who just ignored him like they always did. I rolled my eyes and Miroku noticed it and laughed out loud which caused both of the angry teens to glare at us. Kagome got a light blush over her face and Inuyasha just ignored us and went back to his T.V. show.

I guess two hours had passed by the time Inuyasha's mother got to the house. They told me I had dozed off while watching T.V. with them and why they woke me up I wasn't sure. After all it was Inuyasha's mom and not his dad but I guess it was so I could say hello. A few moments later while I was rubbing my eyes, Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother, walked into the room wearing a huge smile on her face. When she saw me her smile only widened as she walked over to me with her arms outstretched. I stood up quickly and hugged the older woman.

"Sango, I haven't seen you in almost a month! I hope everything is well for you!" she said while hugging my tighter. I had to bite my lower lip to refrain from crying out in pain. As quickly as the pain had come it left as she let me go and walked around to give hugs to the rest of the gang.

"Mom, when is dad coming home?" Inuyasha asked after placing a kiss on her cheek. I had only seen Inuyasha show affection to only two people, Kagome and, of course, his mother.

"I'm not sure dear," she said while scratching her arm. "You can always call him if you'd like. I'm sure if you asked him to come home early he would."

"Thanks, mom, I'll call him now," he said while heading out of the room so his mother wouldn't hear his conversation.

"As wonderful as it is to see you guys, why aren't you in school?" Izayoi asked. I looked down at the floor as her eyes swept over to my face. "Are all of you kids sick or did you just not feel like learning today?"

"We didn't feel like learning," Kagome answered for us. Miroku and I nodded our heads eagerly and Izayoi laughed.

"Alright you guys, we'll I'll be in my studio. I may have retired but it seems as though people are waiting for me to just start designing clothes again," she muttered laughing to herself. "I'll see you kids later,"

We all waved goodbye to her and watched as she disappeared back into the main room. Kagome had grabbed the remote during our talk with Mrs. Takahashi and changed it to a cooking show and we all watched, obviously Miroku was more engrossed in it than Kagome had been. A few minutes later Inuyasha walked back in the room, his expression unreadable.

"What did he say?" I asked him after he sat down next to Kagome who had already put her feet back where they had been.

"My dad said he'd be here in fifteen minutes," he answered while looking at the T.V.

"That was rather fast," Miroku stated as the T.V. went to a commercial. "Was he upset?"

"Nah, he said that he was a little concerned because of my tone of voice."

The butterflies I had tried so hard to ignore finally demanded their presence be known to me. My stomach was doing summersaults and I had to admit, I didn't like it. I would soon find the answers I wanted and I was a little scared at what I would hear. While the others talked back in forth about who knows what, I thought more and more about it. I decided that I wanted to talk to him alone; I didn't want anyone else there if I started crying or whatever and I figured it would be best if I could ask him anything without being embarrassed with my friends there. I carefully leaned back onto the couch and let out a sigh. Inuyasha's ears twitched but he didn't say anything to me; all he did was simply look at me then back to the T.V.

After the fifteen minutes were up, we heard Inutaishio's car pull up. The car door opened then closed and the sound of the alarm turning on was heard. My heart began racing nervously each second that passed by and the only one staring at me was Inuyasha since he could obviously hear my heart pounding in my chest. A few moments later we all heard the front door open and close and seconds hand passed when Inutaishio came into the room, his fierce golden eyes focused on Inuyasha.

"What's the problem?"

"I need to talk to you in your study," Inuyasha said standing up. He looked over at me and my heard started pounding faster, if that was even possible. "Sango, come on. You two wait here, we won't be long,"

I stood up and avoided Inutaishio's questioning gaze. I looked over at Miroku who gave me a small smile and when I looked at Kagome she had a big smile, encouraging me to be brave. I followed both of the dog demons up into Inutaishio's study. Once we entered Inutaishio closed the door and made his way to his desk where he sat in his huge cushioned rolling chair. Inuyasha took the seat on the left side of his fathers' desk which left me the seat on the right. Once I sat down Inuyasha launched into my story. The moment he said I was abused Mr. Takahashi put up his hand, silencing Inuyasha.

"You're being abused, Miss. Sango?" he asked me, daring me with his eyes to lie to him.

"Yes, sir, I had been…"

"Does this mean that you aren't being abused anymore?" he asked again.

"No, sir, I ran away last night," I watched the dog demon nod his head, encouraging me to keep going. "I didn't know where to go, but I guess in my panic I ended up at Miroku's house and I ended up staying the night there and—"

"You stayed at Miroku's house of all places?" Inutaishio asked in shock. "He didn't do anything to you, did he?"

"No, sir, I swear!" I answered defending Miroku's honor. Well, if there was any left. "He was a perfect gentleman the whole time I was there."

"I see," the great dog demon said. "So what do you need my help with?"

Before I could answer Inuyasha spoke again, telling him about how my mother got a court order to only take Kohaku away and how she left me there even though I could have easily gone with her. Inuyasha explained that I needed help knowing what I could do to stay independent and to not go back with my father.

"Seeing as you're going to be turning eighteen in January, I would suggest finding a family friend to stay with, seeing as you don't have any other family members,"

"We never had any family friends," I answered truthfully. My dad had been an only child and when my grandmother was giving birth to him she died and my grandfather had died a little while after my parents had gotten married. As for my mother, she had a sister but they hadn't been on good terms since my mom was pregnant with me. There's no way she'd want me, plus the last we had heard she was living in Washington D.C. "The only people who are even like my family are you guys and Miroku and Kagome."

"Hmm…" Inutaishio leaned back into his chair and began rubbing his chin, obviously thinking of some kind of solution. "What you could do is get a job now anyways, it won't be easy to juggle work and school but I believe you would be able to. Now, here's the thing, you can't obviously get an apartment seeing as you don't have the funds. I have a solution, but I would have to get a court order first, but until you get on your feet to live on your own you can live here with my family. Akira's room is available for you to sleep in."

As much as Inuyasha liked me, I could tell he was not comfortable with me sleeping in Akira's room. I didn't blame him. I wouldn't have wanted anyone sleeping in Kohaku's room either, but I suppose under these circumstances I wouldn't have minded much. I guess Inuyasha was being his usual asshole self. Inutaishio noticed Inuyasha's discomfort with the idea and let out a very loud sigh that almost made me jump out of my seat.

"I know you don't like it Inuyasha, but what do you want me to do?"

"Let her live with Miroku, I think she'd like that a lot better than living here with us,"

Inutaishio looked over at me and I guess he could see that Inuyasha was right. He let out another sigh and leaned back once again into his chair. He began rubbing his chin again and finally sat back up and looked at me.

"I'll tell you this much, Sango, we might not even be able to get permission for you to live there. Seeing as Miroku is already eighteen he can provide for himself but since you are a minor it will cause a problem. I might have a hard time getting a judge to let you live there with him, and, also, since you are a minor I would need your parents consent for you to live there. Both of your parents,"

"But wouldn't it be easier just to say my dad is abusive and that I shouldn't be around that? Or will the judge say the same thing like what my mom said?"

"He just might, but it also wouldn't hurt to try that approach," Inutaishio said while grabbing his personal phonebook out of his top drawer. "You're quite lucky that I don't have any cases at the moment and that I can handle this immediately. But, I have a feeling that even if I did have about five cases I was all working on, I would have dropped them all to help, I know how much you mean to this family," he looked at me and smiled and I couldn't help but blush for the umpteenth time. "You two can go now, I'll call you back when I get a hold of the family judge,"

I stood up and bowed while thanking him over and over. Inuyasha thanked his dad also and we both walked out of his study and back into the living room. When we walked in Kagome wasn't in there and Miroku was lazily flipping through the stations. I walked over to him and poke his forehead which freaked him out because he shot up so fast that if I hadn't moved at the last minute would have given me a major bump on the head. I couldn't help but laugh at him and soon enough he joined in laughing with me. Inuyasha just rolled his eyes and sat down where he had been sitting before.

"What's Kagome at?" he asked while placing his feet on the coffee table.

"Your mom needed help with something so Kagome offered to help her out," Miroku answered while he began searching the channels again. "I was going to go with them but your mom gave me a really dirty look and told me to stay. I guess Kagome was going to be the model for whatever outfit she's working on."

I sat down next to Inuyasha and watched as Miroku settled on another cooking show. We all watched the show in silence and as the minutes dragged on I feared the worse. What if no judge wanted to let me stay with Miroku? What if I was forced to go back with my dad? I was pretty sure that if I was forced to go back, he would kill me the moment I entered the door. I prayed that it wouldn't come down to it. I didn't want to go back to having to hide the bruises, I didn't want that live anymore now that I had a taste at what life could really be like. It may have been small, but being able to go a whole day, a whole hour, without being hit once, was like my personal heaven on earth. There was no way I was giving that up. Even if I had to move back with my dad, I would just leave again, that is if I lived thru that beating. I would go back to Miroku's house, maybe even Kagome's house, and live there until I could support myself. And whenever that did happen, I was going to demand Kohaku live with me, no ifs, ands, or buts about it.

"Hey, Sango, are you listening?"

I looked up and saw that Inuyasha was standing by the archway leading towards his fathers' study. He spoke again and said that while I was staring off into space his dad had called for us to go into his office. I stood up and this time I didn't look at Miroku, I just walked passed Inuyasha back to where his father was waiting for us. When we entered I sat down in the same chair as before and waiting for him to talk. After instructing Inuyasha to close the door he spoke.

"I talked to the head judge of family court," Inutaishio said while fixing up some papers and placing the phonebook he had pulled out earlier back into its original spot. "He said that he would listen to your case, which is a very good thing. I will represent you, obviously, and I will help you as much as I can, free of charge,"

"Thank you so much, Mr. Takahashi," I said while smiling widely.

"I must warn you though, Sango," he said getting serious. "This might not even make it that far. I talked to him about how you wanted to live with Mr. Houshi and, these are his words, not mine, that in order to live with him, you'll have to get married."

I literally felt the color drain from my face. Marry Miroku just so I could live with him? That can't be right! Teenagers live with each other all the time and they didn't have to get married! I looked up at him and he continued.

"But, I informed him that it would only be temporary until you can get a job and save up enough money to support yourself, in which he said that would be fine. But you have until a week before you eighteenth birthday to come up with some money so you can live on your own. If you don't, you'll have to go right back with your father."

"Can I even find a job that would pay me that much money? The only places I can get hired at are fast food restaurants and they don't pay that much." I started ranting. I stopped when Inutaishio raised his hand so he could continue.

"I know of some places that are looking to hire part time students. I'll put in a good word for you at those places and hopefully you can get a job there. If not I'm sure either Izayoi or myself can secure you a job working with one of us for awhile so you can gain some kind of experience."

At this point, I was speechless. I couldn't believe that he was doing this much for me, and for free none the less! I spoke a little more on what could happen if it went to family hearing. My mom would have to show up, as well as my dad, and the judge would decide if my dad was mature enough to take care of me. He also said that I could stay with Miroku until my trial would take place which he would hear about in a week or two. I smiled so wide that I could feel the corners of my mouth tear some from how wide my smile was. I can't believe I got to keep living with him! After he explained everything to me he dismissed me so he could talk to Inuyasha privately. I all but ran back into the living room where Miroku was now looking out the window that faced the backyard where their large outdoor swimming pool was located. When he saw me he stood up and right when he was going to ask me what happened I ran full force at him and gave him a big hug.

"I might be able to live with you after all!" I said smiling up at him. "Mr. Takahashi said that until my trial starts I can live with you! It'll be at least two weeks until my trial starts!"

"Wait, trial? What are you talking about?" he asked me curiously. I didn't fail to notice that he arms had snaked around me and he kept me close to his body, but I chose to ignore it for awhile as I began to explain to him everything that Inutaishio said. When I was done he smiled at me and hugged me again. "I'm so happy you get to stay with me,"

"Surprisingly, I am too," I said honestly. I felt his body start shaking from laughter and I couldn't help but laugh too. "You know this means you're going to have to feed me every day, right?"

"Well damn, this sucks. I guess all my food is going to go away," he sighed.

"That's not nice, Miroku," I said glaring at him. He grinned at me and I couldn't help but smile again. "Anyways, I think if you want we can leave,"

"Nah, I want to stay,"

"You seemed pretty bored earlier. Why do you want to stay all of a sudden?"

"I want to go swimming, so let's go swimming," he said while grabbing my hand and all but dragging me out to where the pool was.

"We don't have anything to swim in Miroku!" I said looking down at my pants and wife beater. "I don't want to swim in blue jeans it's gonna suck!"

"Come on, Sango, it'll be fun," he whined while giving me his best puppy dog look. I sighed in defeat and he grinned. "You're going to have fun, that's why I don't know why you were trying to get out of it."

"Maybe it's because we don't have permission," I said stubbornly.

He grinned again and kept leading me to the pool without answering me. When we finally made it to the pool he stripped off his shoes and socks and placed them on top of one of the pool chairs. He also took out his wallet and removed his belt and placed them with his other items. I slowly took off my shoes also and placed my hair tie on the table too. I looked at Miroku and he just smiled and took off running into the pool. There was a huge splash as his body was attacked with water. He came back up and shook his hair back and forth.

"Come on, Sango! The water is just right!" he yelled while diving back underneath.

"I'm coming! Just chill out," I said while moving closer to the water. I really hated swimming in blue jeans…I wondered briefly if I would be able to borrow one of Akira's bathing suits when I felt someone tap my shoulder. I turned around and I saw a maid holding some shorts.

"Miss. Higurashi asked me to give you some shorts so you could go swimming," the maid announced. She handed them to me and I smiled at her.

"Thank you," she bowed her head in respect than went off to do whatever she was doing before. I looked at Miroku who had witnessed the whole exchange. "I'll be right back," I said as I ran to the nearest bathroom. I quickly stripped off my pants and pulled on the shorts. They were incredibly short! I should have just gone swimming in my panties! I let out a sigh and walked back out caring my jeans. When Miroku saw me his jaw dropped.

"You know, those are shorter than you're school uniform skirts," he stated the obvious.

"Stop staring at me like that, Houshi," I said glaring. I didn't want him to know that his staring was making me have butterflies. I walked towards the edge of the pool and sat down with only my feet in the water. "You were right, it's perfect,"

"Hurry up and get in so we can make out underwater," he teased.

"Ha ha ha, very funny," I said sarcastically. I very carefully lowered myself into the pool, trying not to hurt my bruises or anything, and when I was in the water reached right underneath my breasts. I think Miroku noticed that too…

"Want to race?" he asked with a twinkle in his eye.

"So you can stay behind and watch my behind? I'll pass," I said walked slowly towards the other side away from him. He followed me easily and stood right in front of me.

"I really want to race; I think it'll be fun,"

"What if I accidentally hit the bruises on my back and I end up drowning?"

"I'd save you,"

I glared at him once again and instead of answering I dove underwater so I could wet my hair all the way. I had never been a very big fan of swimming. I guess it's because water can be shaped to whatever it's in and I suppose it reminded me of, well, me. I had been molded into something abnormal, something I had never been before. I had been contained to just one shape when I should have been able to be any shape I wanted to be. I guess now I had that freedom to be what I wished to be. I came back up for air and Miroku was just staring at me.

"What are you looking at?" I asked him irritated.

"Those are some really short shorts," he commented while swimming towards me. I let out an irritated sigh and when he reached me he places his hands on the wall, trapping me in between the wall and his body. "You look amazing when wet,"

"Will you stop joking around?! Someone is going to see us and question if we're a couple or not!" I said panicking. Out of all the times, this was the first time I felt really vulnerable. For one, he could see pretty much everything and you could probably see my hard nipples through the thin material of my bra.

"I'm not joking around," he said while smirking. "You know, Sango, I've always thought her were beautiful," I watched as his hands went to push some of my hair out of my face. "But the way you look right now, I must say you looking fucking hot,"

There was no way this was really happening. This had to be a dream! I was going to wake up any second now and I was still going to be at Miroku's house, barely waking up. I looking into his blue violet eyes and when I felt the very same hand that had been pushing my hair out of the way land lightly on my hip, I knew this was my reality. Or more like my personal hell. Didn't he get that I couldn't date right now?! He obviously knows my feelings for him, if he didn't know; he wouldn't be doing this to me. I placed my hands on his chest and pushed him back a few inches, he seemed shocked.

"Stop talking like that," I said as emotionless as I could. "You know very well I can't be in a relationship, and you're my best friend, Miroku. I don't want to ruin that with you, no matter how much I like you,"

"Sango—"

"I'm not finished," I interrupted him. "I told you twice already that I couldn't, and you just badgering me with your flirtatious ways isn't helping me at all, just stop while you're ahead and before I get hurt even more than I already am," and with that I swam away. That was until Miroku caught my ankle.

"Sango," he said pulling me back to him even while I protested the whole time. "I'm not doing this to hurt you, and I know what you said about not wanting a relationship, but I just can't help myself," he said honestly. "I want to be more than just friends with you, I always have and you know that, but now that we have this opportunity to be more than just friends, you're pushing me away. It's alright to be scared about what might happen, because I'm scared too, but I promise, we'll always be friends first, lovers second. Please, Sango, give me a chance,"

I looked into his eyes once more and for the first time, ever; I saw just how much he loved me. But I just had to stop myself from saying those three words. I sighed while I looked down into the blue water. I could feel myself shaping into something else now; I just didn't know what it was yet. When I looked back at him, he was still waiting.

"Miroku…"

"Hey you guys! Are you hungry yet? Inuyasha is already whining about how he wants food," Kagome yelled from the doorway. She couldn't tell that we were having a very serious talk.

"We're fine," Miroku answered for both of us. He looked down at me. "Are you even hungry?"

"No, I'm fine," I said swimming away from him to be caught yet again by my ankle. When I turned around he was smirking. "What is it?"

"You didn't answer me,"

"Yes I did, I said I wasn't hungry," I said looking confused.

"I meant the other thing,"

For a long time, all we did was stare. I was more confused than I had ever been in my life. This should have been simple! It was either yes or no and God only knew how much I wanted to say yes, but instead I heard myself saying:

"Now isn't a good time, Miroku, let's just get this whole thing with my dad out of the way before we commit to anything," I felt his grip on my ankle loosen and I swam away towards the shallow end before getting out completely.

While I was talking back to my clothes I heard Miroku get out as well, I guess he wasn't that much more enthusiastic about swimming as I was. When I reached my clothes there were two towels there as well. I grabbed one and began drying myself off carefully. When most of my body was dry, I grabbed my clothes and walked to the bathroom, leaving Miroku standing there dripping wet.

After getting dressed I stuck the towel into the dirty clothes basket and made my way out of the bathroom. I looked outside and Miroku was sitting there in the sun, I guess he was letting his clothes dry. I shrugged it off and walked to the front door, I had this sudden urge to just take a walk and let out all of my anger. I put on my shoes quickly and walked out of the door, I was more than sure that the two demons in the house heard me leave, but I didn't care. I walked all the way down their driveway and turned left.

The sun was beating down on me and I could already feel myself beginning to sweat. Why the hell was it this hot in the fall? I shrugged my shoulders and kept walking, not sure exactly where I was going. My eyes never left my feet as I kept walking, and when I finally looked up I realized I had at least walked five or six blocks away from Inuyasha's house. Hopefully they wouldn't look for me any time soon. I walked a few more steps and spotted a payphone on the other side of the street. Without thinking I ran to the phone and picked up the receiver. I started searching my pockets and cursed, I didn't have any money on me. I let out a small sigh of frustration but then I decided I could just call collect.

I dialed the number I had forced myself to memorize so that every time she called I'd know it was her. Hitting the numbers quickly I waited for the operator to connect me. It rang three times before my mother's voice came over the phone.

"_Hello, sorry we couldn't answer the phone, but right now we have taken a quick vacation with my son to the United States. I hope you have a wonderful day and we'll return your call once we get back. Thanks, goodbye!"_

Did I just hear that right? Did she really say they were in the states? I was speechless. I had already heard the beep signaling me to leave a message, but I couldn't. Finally, after what seemed like hours, I spoke. Well, more like yelled.

"Curse you Karou! I trusted you! And you betrayed me…just like dad…" I let out a sob as I threw the phone at the box. It bounced off and hit me in the arm which made me curse before letting out another loud sob. I sunk to the floor, utterly defeated.

Why did she leave so suddenly? Did she really not want me anymore? I had hoped that I could have at least seen Kohaku before all of this started happening. But no, I couldn't be happy, I realized. Everyone had betrayed me; the only person I could trust was me.

"No one loves me…" I said out loud. I wasn't really expecting any kind of answer.

"I love you, Sango, and you know I do," I looked up and saw Kagome standing over me. She had tears in her eyes, threatening to spill out at any moment. "C'mon, let's go back to Inuyasha's house. Everyone is worried about you,"

She reached her hand towards me and I grabbed it before helping her pull me up. She hugged me tightly and I couldn't help but hug her back just as tight. I could feel her tears landing on my shirt and I'm sure she could feel my tears landing on her. She finally let me go and gave me a big smile and we walked off holding hands together. When we made it to Inuyasha's house we could see Inuyasha and Miroku walking towards us. Inuyasha spotted us quickly and I swear I could hear him growling. I didn't realize I would have gotten into that much trouble…

"Where the hell have you been? We were worried about you!" Inuyasha yelled once we were in range of hearing. I'm pretty sure the whole neighborhood heard him though.

"I went for a walk," I said simply.

"You could have at least told someone!" he yelled again. "Your dad could have been out there or something!"

"My dad wouldn't come over here and you know it!"I yelled back.

"You never know! He could have been driving around just to drive and he could have seen you walking around!"

"Well he didn't! I'm fine and you can see that so will you stop yelling at me already!"

We glared at each other for a good five minutes before he just growled and walked back into the house. Kagome let go of my hand and walked in after him, probably to calm him down. All that remained was Miroku and I. He was the very reason why I went on my little walk. I wish he had never said those things to me, because now I could feel a complication. It was there and it would stay there until something happened. He looked at me and smiled.

"Do you want to go home now?"

I didn't answer right away. I was scared that my voice would come out sounding weak and pathetic and I didn't want that. So after a long pause I nodded my head yes. He said he would collect the car key and say goodbye and that I was to wait here for him. I just nodded again and sat down on the steps leading up to the front door. The only thing I could hear were my thoughts yelling at me and cars passing by. I asked myself again and again, why did she leave? What purpose was that for? Was it to take Kohaku's mind off of things? How was I supposed to know he was alright? I let out a sigh and felt the tears coming back but I shook them off. I didn't want Miroku to see me crying. Awhile later he came back out with the car keys and I followed him to the car; Kagome came out awhile later and waved goodbye to us while we drove off.

The ride was like every single other car ride with him, quiet as hell. This time it was more of a reason to be quiet; I was still a little…warmed up at what happened. I think he knew how much I wanted to be with him, but he also knew how much I couldn't be with him. Regardless, by the time we reached his house not a single word had been said and I just wanted to run up to him and kiss him until my lips fell off. It didn't sound to ideal, but it would have made me happy and I'm sure he would have been happy. If only we could…

He put the car in park and turned it off. I noticed that he didn't park the car in the driveway; I guess he was leaving somewhere. I got out at the same time he did and as I was following him to the door we could hear the phone ringing. He cursed lightly and hurried to open the door. Once he did, he ran in and grabbed the phone.

"Hello?" he answered. I closed the door behind me and locked it, something I had grown used to when I lived with my dad. "Oh hey, no I just got home. Why what's up?"

I took a seat on the couch and looked around, not really paying attention, or trying not to pay attention, to Miroku's conversation. He talked a little more to whoever it was and I looked up suddenly when I heard him say:

"Yeah, sure, I'll be there in a few minutes,"

After that a few more words were exchanged and then he hung up. I kept staring at him but he wouldn't look at me for whatever reason. He reached where we kept our shoes at and he put his back on. He grabbed his keys and before he could even unlock the door I spoke.

"Where are you going?"

"Out,"

"Who are you going out with?"

"You don't know her, so don't worry about it," and with that he opened the door and left, locking it behind him.

I sat there, just staring at the door not sure what to do. A few moments later I heard the car start then pull away. I tore my gaze away and stared at the floor. I didn't know _her_ huh? I stood up from the couch after sitting there for a couple of minutes longer. I walked to the guest room and looked through my bag for some clean clothes. I pulled out a long sleeved shirt and some black yoga pants. I peeled off my clothes and put on fresh undergarments and the clothes I just pulled out. Grabbing some socks, I put them on quickly and headed for the front door. When I touched the handle I felt myself freeze. Inuyasha's words came rushing back into my head.

"_He could have been driving around just to drive and he could have seen you walking around!"_

I didn't want to risk him seeing me, so I let go of the doorknob and walked back to my temporary room. When I walked in I stripped down to only my bra and panties and I lay down on the bed. I stuck my head into the pillow and before I knew it, I was crying. Tears upon tears were just running out of my eyes and I could clearly picture myself drowning in my tears, similar to how Alice in "Alice in Wonderland" almost drowned herself. I knew that ending my life would never make anything easier; it would only make everything harder for the people who were still living. I would never take my own life though; I could never go out that way. My eyes were already getting swollen from my tears. I rolled carefully onto my back and looked at the ceiling. The tears had finally stopped and all that escaped my mouth were a few sobs.

A dull ache in my back is what woke me up. I carefully sat up and looked over at the clock on the end table. It read twelve forty six A.M. I stood up and walked over to the door and opened it as quietly as I could. When I poked my head out all the lights were still on. I guess Miroku still wasn't back yet. I let out a long sigh and just to double check I walked into the living room and peeked out the window. Sure enough, his car wasn't there. My shoulders slumped and I dragged myself back to the room I had been sleeping in.

As carefully as possible, I lay back down on my back and again looked at the ceiling. The time turned to one, then two, and when the clock struck three there still was no sign of Miroku. He had given up on me already…betrayed once again. I let out a sigh and before I fell asleep, one tear slid down the side of my face and disappeared into my hair.

**Another chapter finished. How am I doing so far? I hope I'm doing alright. A past reviewer had said I had to much dialog and I'm trying to refrain from that as much as possible. It's kind of hard but I think I'm doing a good job at it. This chapter seemed to take forever and it seems a little…like a filler chapter. I will get into more of the really big important stuff in the next few chapters. I'm just trying to add some fluff in before all that stuff happens, teehee! Anyways, I must thank a few people:**

**Cousin Sam: Why the hell didn't you sign in and leave a review? You're dumb! The next time I see you I'm gonna slap you in the face and steal your iPod! Thanks for your review, cousin, I love you!**

**Miroku: Inuyasha ruins everything for my favorite couple in this story! Just a minor heads up ha-ha. Oh and your review made me laugh how you reviewed twice. When I read the first review I was like "what the hell?" and then the second one I couldn't stop laughing hahaha. I hope you keep reading this story!**

**Alright, so I don't know when I'll update again since my muse comes back and then leaves and it can be pretty annoying. I'm going to start college soon and when that happens, I'm sure I'll be swamped with homework that I never had in high school. But, anyways, until we meet again!**

**Remember, reviews make the world go round.**

**Inumel-mel**

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	4. I've Been Alone All Along

_**I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.**_

**Scars and Cuts**

**Chapter Four**

**I've Been Alone All Along**

It had been already two weeks since Miroku had walked out of the house. Of course he had come back and he didn't say a word at where he had been. I had already suspected that. It's been like that ever since he came back from wherever it was he was as. He's leave, come back late, go to school as if nothing was wrong, and then come home again only to leave fifteen minutes later. It was almost as if I was living by myself already.

I was sitting on the couch, half-awake and half-asleep, with the television turned onto a true crime channel. I was half paying attention to the detectives running around trying to find this messed up serial killer, my mind was more preoccupied on the very night it happened…the night I found out everything…

_Flashback_

_I wandered back into the living room and sat down on the love seat. The clock on the wall said it was eleven twenty three. I grabbed the remote and turned it on. I flipped through the channels and found nothing interesting to I turned it back off. I looked at nothing in particular as the time flew by me. I guess I had fallen back to sleep because when I heard Miroku's car pull up the clock said two thirty. I heard the engine shut off and the door open then close. I waited and again I heard a door open and close. Was someone with him?_

"_Come on you drunken fool! Walk on your own!" Is that Inuyasha? And what does he mean by drunk? "Sango, can you open the door?"_

_I quickly got off the couch and rushed to the door where I unlocked it then opened it wide. There stood Inuyasha holding an almost passed out Miroku. Was this why he stayed out so late? So he could get drunk out of his mind? I watched as Inuyasha all but threw him on the couch. He said a quick goodbye to me and walked out of the door. But before he closed it I called out his name._

"_What is it? I'm in a hurry," he said looking back at me clearly annoyed._

"_Where's his car at?" I asked. The only car in sight was Inuyasha's red convertible car._

"_That drunken retard called me at like four in the morning asking me if I could pick him up. I could tell he was drunk so I did then he crashed at my house. His car is still at her house,"_

"_Wait, who is she?" I asked again before he could close the door in his face._

"_It's his girlfriend, who else could it be? Now I really got to go, I'm helping Sesshomaru move some things around,"_

_I didn't say anything this time as he closed the door shut. Did he just say girlfriend? There was no way Miroku had a girlfriend, he wouldn't have been flirting with me the way that he was! He would have also told me if he was seeing someone. There's no way this could be happening. I sunk to the ground as I realized what I was thinking. Of course this could be happening, Miroku was the biggest pervert I knew, and I was the biggest idiot ever. I should have known all guys were the same, they're all liars. I felt the tears burning behind my eye lids, just begging to be released. But they wouldn't be, I wasn't going to cry for that two timing asshole anymore. I hugged my knees and placed my forehead on my folded arms. Why had I allowed this? I knew this would happen!_

"_I really am an idiot…" I said out loud. When I heard groaning I looked up fast and saw that Miroku was sitting up._

"_Why are you an idiot? And why is the room spinning?" he asked holding his forehead. "Damn I have a bad headache,"_

"_Who is she, Miroku?"_

"_What are you talking about?"_

"_Don't play stupid!" I yelled standing up._

"_Stop yelling damn it! You're making my headache worse!" he said wincing at his own voice._

"_Well you just made the hole in my heart bigger and you don't see me complaining! Now tell me who the hell she is!" upon hearing my words he looked at me and I guess he could see the tears that were evident in my eyes. He sighed and looked down._

"_What did Inuyasha tell you?"_

"_He said that you got drunk and that you called him to pick him up from your _girlfriends'_ house! If you had a girlfriend then why the fuck were you flirting with me?" I yelled again._

"_I really do like you Sango…"_

"_That's not an answer, damn it!" there was no stopping the tears now. I hated liars more than I hated my dad. "Why didn't you even tell me you had a girlfriend? I thought we could tell each other everything but I guess not!"_

"_You're one to talk Sango!" he shot back. He was looking straight into my eyes. I had never seen his beautiful eyes so full of anger. "You didn't even tell me that you were being abused! So who's the real liar here?"_

_I stayed quiet after he yelled this. The hole in my heart just kept getting bigger. I'm guessing he knew how bad the words affected me because I heard him say my name. I could tell he was getting up but before he could fully stand I looked at him._

"_That is way different, Miroku, and you know it. I didn't tell anyone because I was trying to protect the only family member who hadn't abandoned me. What do you think would have happened if I would have told someone and he found out? He would have killed Kohaku and me. What was your excuse?"_

"_I didn't want to hurt you," he said sinking back down onto the couch._

"_You didn't want to hurt me?" I yelled again. "You already hurt me! You hurt me because you kept it from me because you didn't have the balls to tell me; you flirted with me and said all this bull shit about 'us' and how you wanted to be with me, when you were already with some girl I don't even know, and, on top of all that, you had the nerve to try and lie to me about it!"_

"_I didn't lie about anything!"_

"_Oh so you just didn't tell me the truth? That's the same thing as lying!"_

"_Sango, just please listen to me,"_

"_No, I don't want to listen to your lies anymore!" I didn't give him a chance to say anything else. I quickly ran to my room and slammed the door shut._

_I sunk to the floor once again and let the tears fall. I was tired of his mind games. At this point I only knew one thing; my feelings for Miroku were gone._

_End Flashback_

I shook my head violently to try and erase the pain I was starting to feel. At the time, I had really meant what I said about having no more feelings towards Miroku, but even if I was pissed off at him, I couldn't help but still have the butterflies every time he came around, even if he had a girlfriend and that's where he was going. I like pretending that I have no idea where he's going. I hate that he didn't tell me. I still haven't met her yet; I don't think I ever will now. Why did I have to runaway and ruin everything? Another thing that doesn't really matter…

The phone ringing is what startled me out of my stupor. I got up slowly and made my way towards the phone. The bruises had finally turned a nice yellow color so I could finally sleep on my back again, I was getting sick and tired of always having to be on my stomach. I grabbed the phone from the cradle and answered it.

"Houshi residence," I answered blankly.

"_Um, who is this?"_

"This is Miroku's honored guess," I said sarcastically. "Who's this?"

"_This is Reika; is Miroku there? He was supposed to be here twenty minutes ago,"_

So this was his girlfriend, "I'm sorry, Reika, was it? He's not here right now and I haven't seen him since this morning."

"_Yes its Reika, alright thank you, um…what was your name again?"_

"It doesn't really matter now, does it? Make sure that when you see Miroku, tell him that I'll be at Kagome's house until he realizes I'm still here," I hung up. Screw what Inuyasha's dad said.

It had happened three days ago; Inutaishio had called saying that my case was going to be heard by a friend of his who was also a judge. He had explained that my parents would have to be present, and that while this was going on I was to stay at Miroku's house. Miroku was supposed to be my 'guardian' while I was here, but how the hell was he supposed to guard me when he was at _Reika's _house. I rolled my eyes lightly as I made my way to my 'room' to pack up an overnight bag. I'd only stay there for one night, I decided. I don't want to impose on them and, hopefully, Inuyasha wouldn't be there and start telling me shit about how I was disobeying orders. Well, on a plus side, I could always get Miroku in trouble with Inutaishio…

I smiled to myself as a mental image of Inutaishio tying Miroku by his ankles and hitting him with a stick. Then he would give me the stick and say I could do whatever I wanted with him. Oh and did I have some ideas…

After making a quick call to Kagome to make sure Inuyasha really wasn't there, I headed out of the house, not even bothering to lock the door, at this point maybe if the house got broken into he'll think I was kidnapped and actually worry about me. I laughed lightly at the thought; he probably would be happy, one less girl to worry about. I walked two blocks down and sat down at the bus station. I would have to catch the bus to her street then walk three blocks to the left and then all the way up those damn stairs to get to the Higurashi Shrine.

When the bus finally came, I used the money I stole from Miroku to pay my fair. I sat in the middle of the bus and kept my head down, just in case someone saw me. Most of the ride was quiet, except for the occasional person talking. I watched the scenery change from the window to neighborhoods to the hustle and bustle of the city. The bus then lurched to a stop as some people got on and more people got on. I still had my head down when I felt someone tap me on the shoulder. When I looked up I smiled.

"Hey Kouga,"

"I thought that was you, Sango," Kouga said smiling. "May I?"

"Sure," I said moving my bag out of the seat Kouga was referring to. "What are you doing out here in the city?"

"Oh nothing much, I was actually on a date until a little while ago," he said while getting comfortable.

"How is that nothing?" I said laughing. "Who was it with?"

"Ayame, who else would I go out with?"

"You guys finally got together? It's about damn time Ookami," I said joking.

"We got together like two weeks ago," Kouga stated. "You would know if you were at school," I didn't answer right away. When I looked at him, I could see in his eyes that he knew why I wasn't. Before I could ask him; he answered. "Inuyasha told me about it. He had originally wanted you to tell me, but when you never came back to school he decided to tell me instead,"

"I see…" I said quietly. I hadn't expected that; in all honesty, I had forgotten to tell Kouga about it. At the time I was mainly concerned with Kagome and everyone else that I neglected to tell my other best friend. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything to you, Kouga,"

"Hey, don't worry about it alright? I'm not upset or anything. I just wish I could kill the bastard for ever laying a hand on you," he growled.

"Can you please not make a scene inside of the bus?" I half teased. He only smiled at me and I lightly punched him in the arm.

The rest of the time was spent just talking about school and what we were gonna do once school let out. I told him honestly that I wanted to try and gain custody of Kohaku and then start attending the local community college since I was going to be tight on money if I had to watch over him. I also explained what Inutaishio had said since Inuyasha didn't really get into too much detail with Kouga about it. Another part of the deal was that I would have to work while I was living with Miroku. It would be somewhere where my dad would never see me at, which would most likely be at either Inutaishio's office or at Izayoi's office.

"I'm not even sure if I'll be able to finish high school," said while pulling the string signaling to the bus driver I wanted to get off. "Inutaishio said I might have to be homeschooled and that he would hire a tutor to go over to Miroku's house or get me over to his house to do it there. I'm still in shock that he's doing all of this for me,"

"You're like another daughter to him, Sango," Kouga said shrugging as if it was nothing. The bus was finally coming to a stop and when it halted he gave me a big hug. "If I were you, I'd be very careful around here, you never know,"

"I will," I promised while hugging him back. "See you later, Kouga!" I watched as he waved goodbye as the bus pulled out of the small station and I swung my bag back over my shoulder and started walking towards Kagome's house.

I had never noticed until now just how nice the houses looked. I had passed by them so many times, but I had never actually paid attention to them. Half the time I walked here I was talking to Kagome or I was in a car zipping passed these houses. But as I looked at the simple one story structures I was in a state of awe. The colonial looking columns looked so perfect against these houses. They looked like they should be in Inuyasha's neighborhoods. I wonder if the city paid to have all these houses fixed up the way they were.

I shook my head slightly and laughed at myself. Here I am supposed to be looking out for my dad and I'm too busy noticing the scenery. Just like me to get distracted. I was already at the end of the block when I almost got hit by a car, but just not any car, _his _car. I could vaguely see him sitting in the driver seat with that girl sitting next to him. Was that blonde hair I saw? Well no wonder he's with her, I thought rolling my eyes.

I crossed the street and while I casually looked down it I saw that the reverse lights were lit up. Oh shit, did he see me? I thought panicking. Sure enough, the car was reversing into a drive way and making its way back down the road, right towards me. I took off running as fast as I could. There was no way he was going to take me back to his house while I had to sit in the back and listen to them talk about all their fun times together. I'd rather go back to my dad then have to face that!

I raced past the second block and when I looked back I saw his car with the turn signal on; he was turning right. I felt my adrenaline kick in as I saw the shrine steps come into view. With lightning speed I raced up all of them in record time. When I reached the top I didn't stop until I reached the front door. I started knocking immediately and I didn't stop until someone answered. Kagome answered the door and the smile she had vanished and became a puzzled frown.

"Sango, are you ok? It looks like you just ran a mile in five seconds," she stated,

Without answering I rushed in passed her and slammed the door. I looked around for a moment and dashed up the stairs, passed Mrs. Higurashi who was caring a laundry basket, passed the annoyed face of Grandpa Higurashi, and nearly ran into the confused looking Souta. When I finally made it into Kagome's room the first place I went into was Kagome's closet where I closed the door. I slid to the floor and tried unsuccessfully to try and contain my breath.

"Sango, where are you? What has gotten into you?" she asked coming close to the closet. When she opened it she looked at me curiously and placed her hands on her hips. "What happened to you?"

"I saw Miroku," I said in pants. "He was with Reika and I guess he saw me because he turned around and when he did I took off running. Kagome, if Inuyasha has a record on how fast he can get up those stairs without using his demon speed I think I just broke it," I said while lying on the floor of the closet on top of Kagome's shoes.

"If you did it in less than five seconds, then yes, you broke his record. Sango I think you just broke everyone's record of climbing up those stairs,"

"Awesome," I said while finally calming down enough to be able to breathe right. "If he comes knocking on the door with Reika in tow tell him I'm not here,"

"Wait a minute, back up, who the hell is Reika?" when I looked into her eyes she turned on the closet light, made a space for herself, closed the door, and sat down with me. "Tell me everything that happened from the last time I saw you,"

And so I did. I told her about how when we were at Inuyasha's house when we were swimming how he was talking about how much he liked me and how much he wanted us to be together. I told her about how when I rejected him he had been gone every night to some persons house, who was obviously a girl since he had said "you don't know her," and then I got up to when Inuyasha came to his house with a drunk Miroku in tow and how he had unintentionally told me Miroku had a girlfriend. When I finished she nodded her head and told me to continue. So I did, I told her about how Reika called and how we talked for awhile before had I told her I was going to come here and told her to tell Miroku.

"Sango, if you had told her to intentionally tell Miroku, why did you run away from him?"

"He would have just dragged me back and I wanted to avoid the whole awkward silence of sitting in the backseat of his car with his blonde headed girlfriend, ok? Wouldn't you have done the same thing if our positions were reversed?"

"Point taken, I would have done the same thing," she agreed. A few moments later we heard a knock on the door. "Who is it?" Kagome yelled.

"Sis, Miroku's here to see you," Souta said while opening the door. "He said that he wanted to talk to you and Sango. Where are you guys anyways?"

"We're in the closet; tell Miroku I'll be right down,"

"I will," he said. We both heard the door close and then it opened up again. "By the way, he has some girl with him with blonde hair; do you know who she is?"

"Nope," Kagome answered. "I'll be right down."

I looked over at her and she sighed. I could tell she was battling with herself and whether or not she wanted to meet Reika. We both knew that her mother had raised her better than that. So with another heavy sigh she got up off the floor, opened up the closet door, and walked out towards the hallway. I sat there, not wanting to go after her; but, against my better judgment, I slowly stood up and headed towards the hallway anyways. From Kagome's doorway I could hear her offering drinks and snacks to them. Reika, the only persons whose voice I didn't recognize, was thanking her, but it was pretty obvious Miroku wasn't buying it.

"Kagome, thanks for being a nice hostess, as always, but I asked for both you and Sango to come down here, not just you,"

"You can't just summon us as if we were your slaves, Miroku," Kagome answered. "If Sango wanted to come down then she would have." Score one for Kagome.

"I understand that, Kagome, but I really need to talk with her,"

"What do you need to talk to her about?"

"Something private,"

"Miroku," I heard Kagome say. "I know everything that is going on with you two, and I mean everything,"

I could already see Miroku's face; he was probably sweating from his nerves, while the very reason I was pissed off at him was sitting next to him on Mrs. Higurashi's brown loveseat. He was probably avoiding her gaze, the way he always did when he knew he was trapped.

"So, just to add on, anything you have to say, you can say to me. Unless, for some reason, you don't want to say it in front of your girlfriend here,"

As quietly as I could, I walked lower down the stairs until I could see the side of Miroku's face, and right next to him I could see her, the blonde girl named Reika. She was a deep tan color, I guess you could say she was petite, I couldn't really tell with her sitting down. She was wearing a white off the shoulder top and she only wore a necklace. She leaned back against the sofa and I had to bite my tongue before I let out a loud gasp. She was wearing his mother's necklace; the only piece of jewelry that meant so much to him. He had told me once he would only give it to someone he intended on marrying. There was no way…

"Well, Kagome, you're my best friend also and I guess you would have found out sooner or later," I saw him shift in his seat to where he was now sitting up as straight as Reika was. He grabbed her hand and looked her straight in the eyes. "Reika and I have decided to get married,"

Silence; that is the only word I could use to describe that moment. After the silence, the only thing I heard was Kagome's gasp, my sharp intake of breath, and the breathing of Miroku and Reika. This was not happening; there was no way this could be happening…

"…congratulation?" Kagome muttered out meekly. "Congratulations, Miroku and Reika."

"Thank you," Reika answered, speaking clearly for the first time. "I'm really glad that one of Roku's friends approves of me, but what about your other friend?"

"Do you mean Inuyasha?" Kagome asked her.

"No, not him, I've met Inu on plenty of occasions, I'm talking about the other friend, the girl I talked to on the phone today,"

"Oh, you mean Sango," Kagome answered. "Well like I had told Miroku earlier, she's up stairs right now, she uh, wasn't feeling well."

"That's too bad…I was really looking forward to meeting her…"

"Maybe you can convince her to come down here, Kagome," Miroku suggested.

"I'll try…"

I already had my answer ready when Kagome excused herself from where Miroku and Reika were at. I was going to shout out 'hell no' until I realized Mrs. Higurashi would be very disappointed if such language would come out of my mouth. I stayed on the stairs and when Kagome started walking up she was a little startled when she saw me just sitting there. She could tell I was going to argue but in a flash she grabbed my wrist and all but dragged me into the empty bathroom. Before I could even begin to argue she spoke.

"Listen, Sango, just please try and grin and bear it. He's your friend Sango, regardless of what has happened. At least go down there and be a little supporting of him,"

"I refuse to be supportive! Didn't you see what she was wearing Kagome? She's wearing his mother's necklace! Or did you fail to notice that?"

"I did notice it…" she answered quietly. "I always thought he'd give it to you,"

"Don't be ridiculous Kagome," I answered. "If you want me to go and see them and pretend like everything is alright, then fine, I'll do it,"

"Thanks, Sango," she said while giving me a big hug. "Well, let's go down there and face the happy couple, Reika and _Roku_. Oh and remind me, when they leave, to give _Inu_ a phone call."

I couldn't help but laugh at her tone of voice. I'm pretty sure Inuyasha was going to get an ear full for not telling Kagome that Miroku had a girlfriend and that they were that serious about each other. I looked into the mirror that was over the sink and sighed. I was so plain compared to Reika. I heard the door open and Kagome say to get going. I sucked in a deep breath and headed out of the bathroom and down the stairs to where Miroku and Reika were sitting.

I didn't say anything as I went and sat down where Kagome had been sitting. The first person I looked at was Miroku who was just staring down at his shoes. What a coward, he couldn't even look me in the eyes. My eyes shifted over to Reika and she greeted me with a warm smile.

"It's nice to meet you, finally, Sango," she said while extending her hand. "I've heard so much about you from Roku."

"Yes, well that makes one of us," I answered as calmly as I could. I gripped her hand and shook it firmly. I was quite satisfied when she pulled her hand back and rubbed it to try and make the pain go away. "The first time I heard of you was when Miroku came home drunk two weeks ago."

"Roku can be such a heavy drinker when he's got a lot on his mind," she stated while leaning against him. "I try my best to make him stop but sometimes he just doesn't,"

"Believe me; I know what you're talking about,"

"He can be such a handful sometimes," she said laughing. "But he's definitely the one for me,"

"Tell me, Reika, how did you two meet?" I asked completely ignoring her previous statement. "He didn't tell me and neither did Inuyasha, so why don't you tell us how you met?"

"Is that really important?" Miroku said, speaking for the first time to me.

"Of course it's important, _Roku,_ I want to know how you two fell in love, seeing as no one knew except for Inuyasha," I said while glaring at him. "So please, Reika, tell us,"

"Hmm…let's see. Roku and I met at my school. You see I'm a college student at the moment and we met was it two years ago? Yes I'm sure that's how long ago it was. At first we just used to walk by each other whenever he was at my school until finally we started talking. Then a few months went by and I grew a very big crush on him. I didn't know he felt the same until a few months later when he asked me to be his girlfriend. That was a year and a half ago; we've been together ever since."

"So you met him while you were in high school then, Reika?" Kagome asked. She had just finished handing me a cup up tea which I sipped at while watching Miroku's reaction.

"Oh no, I was a freshman in college when Roku and I met," she answered while smiling up at him.

It was at that moment I started chocking on my tea. If Miroku was a senior in high school, then that means he met Reika when he was only a sophomore!

"Do you mean to tell me," I said after I regained my composure. "That you have been dating for this long and you didn't tell anyone!"

"Like Reika said earlier, Inuyasha knew," Miroku said while giving Reika's hand a small squeeze. "Besides, age doesn't really matter,"

"That's not the point," I said barely audible. I'm sure they couldn't hear me very well since I was clenching my teeth.

"We plan on getting married right after Roku gets out of high school," Reika said continuing on. "Well maybe not right out of high school, possibly as soon as he starts college. We plan to go to Tokyo University together. It'll be just us two until we plan on having children, but that won't be until we finish college altogether, right Roku?"

As they continued on about their plans with their future lives together, I was too busy clenching my hands into fists. Did I really have to be part of all this? I'd rather be back with my father then here listening to them talk about her wedding dresses and the bridesmaids dresses.

"Maybe, if it's alright with you guys, you two could actually be bridesmaids," Reika suggested. "I think it would be marvelous! It's obvious after we're married we're going to be spending time together, since you're best friends with Roku. What do you think?"

"I wouldn't have a problem with it," Kagome said smiling. "What about you Sango?"

"Before I agree to anything, I'd rather get to know you a lot better. Because what do we really know about you? All we do know is your name and how you met Miroku, I can't possibly agree to anything until I know more about you," I said staring Reika in the eyes. My eyes flickered momentarily down to the small necklace she was wearing. It was a simple silver chain with a rectangular shaped diamond. "I have to ask this, but where did you get that necklace? It's beautiful,"

"Roku gave it to me on our one year anniversary," she said beaming at him. "He said it was very special to him,"

"Yes it would be, considering it belonged to his mother," I said flatly. The look of shock that came across her face nearly made me laugh. I can't believe he didn't tell her it belonged to his mother.

"You never told me that, honey," Reika said while staring at Miroku.

"It was in his mothers' will that it'd be given to the woman Miroku was to marry," I kept going. "Until now, only two other women had seen it. Can you guess who they were?" Reika didn't answer. I could tell by Miroku's face and the way Kagome sat up while I was talking how uncomfortable is was getting in the room, yet I pressed on. "That's right, only you and I have ever seen that necklace; I'm sure now you know exactly why I saw that necklace. Now, if you'll excuse me…"

I didn't wait for anyone to say anything. Instead, I stood up and walked back up the stairs towards Kagome's room. Once the door was closed and I was back in the closet once again sitting on Kagome's shoes, was when I finally let all the tears fall down…

Kagome told me, after I had excused myself from the living room, that Reika didn't look very happy. She looked really hurt. Miroku apologized for my behavior and so did Kagome. I'm not sure how they got out of that one, but they managed because Kagome said Reika left with a smile on her face and also gave Kagome the biggest hug she had ever received.

"Why would you go and say that, Sango?" Kagome had asked me when she walked back upstairs. I didn't know how to respond. Instead I heard myself saying: "I'm guessing I had all this anger pent up in me from all the drama with him and that I exploded."

Kagome obviously saw right through that excuse, and if it wasn't for me mentioning she had to call Inuyasha, I would have gotten a very stern lecture that I did not want at the moment. On the other hand, hearing Kagome yell at Inuyasha was definitely a way to get me out of my rotten mood. Of course, it wouldn't last forever. I still had to go back to Miroku's house, regardless of what was going on, and I knew he was going to give me an ear full for what happened.

"Sango, you know you can stay here as long as you want, right?" Kagome asked me while I was packing all my stuff. "I mean it's not that big of a deal,"

"Kagome, I've already been here for a week. I've been wearing your old clothes and I must say I'm tired of wearing pastel colors and skirts. I won't be away for very long but I still have to keep up the appearance that I'm living with Miroku." I was finishing zipping up my bag when I turned to her. "Besides, I think grandpa is tired of me already,"

"You know that's not true," Kagome argued back. "Grandpa loves you as if you were his own granddaughter,"

"Oh how I wish that was true," I said laughing. "But really, Kagome, I'll be fine. I can see how it's going to be when I return. Miroku's going to yell at me, I'm going to yell at him, he's gonna leave to her house, I'm gonna be on my own for about two or three weeks. It really is no big deal, but if I get lonely I'll invite you over and we can raid Miroku's underwear drawer and toss them on the street."

Kagome smiled mischievously. "We already did that, remember?"

"How can I forget?"

A couple of minutes later, I was on my way back to my own personal hell. I thankfully didn't run into anyone I knew on the bus, although seeing Kouga again would have been great. I really missed going to school and seeing everyone like I always used to. Sometimes I wished it could be the way it used to be; even if that meant living with my father and getting beat every day; not knowing Miroku was in a serious relationship with a girl I didn't even know and me, being the idiot that I was, falling for him more and more each day. Life really was a complicated thing. Letting out an inaudible sigh, I looked out the window and took in the familiar scenery. It felt like it had been a decade that I was out of that house, in reality it was a little over a month, and yet, so much has happened. I rolled my eyes, this was getting ridiculous.

Finally the bus made it to its destination. I got off and headed towards the second bus stop that would take me to his house. As I was walking there, memories of before Miroku had his car, how when I was supposed to be studying with my friends, I would be at his house. He would get on the bus with me and we'd ride together until this stop. Then we'd say goodbye and he'd watch as I got on the bus that would take me home and I would watch as he began walking back to his house the whole ten blocks we had just passed. If I would have known that he would have fallen for another girl before we even had a chance, I would have gotten up the courage to ask him out way before. But no, life doesn't work that way. This time I didn't stop my sigh as it came out. Thankfully no one was there.

I watched various cars pass by while I waited and waited. The bus was taking way to long. I didn't have a watch or a cell phone to check the time, but I knew for a fact that the bus should have been here already. Today really wasn't my day, I decided. After waiting another ten minutes I decided that for some retarded reason, the bus wasn't coming. It wasn't even dark outside, so the bus should have showed up already. I stood up from where I was sitting and grabbed my bag. I began walking down the street and groaned. I always hated walking to his house.

It wasn't until I was three blocks away from his house that the bus went speeding by. After letting out various curses and groans, I kept on walking. At least I didn't miss one of my buses, I thought trying to stay as optimistic as possible. Finally, after walking for who knows how long, I made it to his house. I smiled, his car wasn't there. I all but ran to his house and when I reached the door I turned the doorknob. It was locked. I turned to my left and looked under the fake rock to find out that he had taken the spare key from there. What an asshole!

I stood there for about five minutes before I realized I could try seeing if the windows were open. I skipped the living room windows, knowing full well that they were locked. I went around, skipping the kitchen window to my own bedroom and cursed at myself for locking them the last time I opened the window. I tried every single window and was very displeased to find them all locked. The only windows I hadn't tried were Miroku's, because I wasn't allowed into his room and the kitchen window because it was too high up. Oh the hell with it, I thought while looking around the yard for something to climb on. I finally found a trashcan and placed it underneath the window. The window was thankfully open and the only problem I had was when I was trying to get over the clean dishes. Once I was successfully inside I closed the window and locked it this time. As I was making my way over to my room I head this strange thumping noise. Had someone broken into the house? I quietly made my way over to where the noise was coming from. It wasn't from my room because I had left the door open. When I was close to Miroku's door I head the same thumping noise but it was more in a pattern this time. Then I heard it, the same voice from earlier, except this time, said voice was moaning.

Not only did I turn red from embarrassment, I also turned red from anger. So this is why he removed the house key, he didn't want me interrupting them. What sick bastards! I marched back to my room and when I was safely inside, I slammed the door with so much force that some of the pictures from the hallway fell to the floor with a thud. I was quiet satisfied when I heard Miroku shout a profanity and also when I heard Reika shriek. I sat down on my bed as I heard heavy footsteps from Miroku's room, then as the door was opening I sat down crossed leg. When I heard running from the hallway I sat back on the bed and watched as my door swung open. There was Miroku, in only some sweat pants that I was sure were grabbed randomly from the floor to cover him up. When he looked at me I could see first the confusion then the anger.

"What the hell are you doing here?" he yelled.

"I live here, remember?" I said calmly. "Or did you forget?"

"I didn't forget. I just figured you would have stayed away longer. Why didn't you call like a regular person? If I would have known you were coming I would have—"

"You would have what, Miroku? Waited to have sex with your fiancée? Made up some lame excuse to make me stay over another night? Actually put the key back where it's always at? What would you have done Miroku?" I waited for his answer but it never came. For a long time we just stared at each other until Reika decided to break the silence.

"What's going on Roku?" she asked while wearing one of his shirts. "Oh, um, hello there Sango, what brings you here?"

"I live here, or did Miroku fail to mention that to you?"

She was taken aback from my statement. "I had just assumed you were visiting, that's why you answered the phone the day I called you."

"Well, you assumed wrong,"

"Miroku, what's going on?"

"She's only here because she needed somewhere to stay while her parents are out of town; she'll be here for only a few more weeks," he explained. He was about to keep going but I burst out laughing.

"Oh my goodness, Miroku, you are truly a comedian!" I said while holding my sides in pain. Tears were flowing from my eyes, but not because I was laughing so hard. "So my 'parents are out of town' now are they? Well I guess you could say that. But Reika, if you want to know the truth, I'm living with Miroku because my dad has been beating the shit out of me for five years. So Miroku, being the gentleman that he is, offered for me to stay here, wasn't that nice of him? But now, he's gotten himself in a bind. Want to know how? I have to live with him until I go to court to become free from my father so I can live on my own and get a job to support my younger brother and myself. The court says I have to live in this house, so because of that, Miroku has decided he'd rather stay away, but that was after the little incident we had at Inuyasha's house,"

"That's enough, Sango," Miroku said.

"But Miroku, I'm getting to the good part," I said as the tears continued to stream out of my eyes. "I'm getting to the part where you said that you—"

"SHUT UP SANGO!" Miroku yelled startling Reika who was standing next to him, staring at me as I spoke.

"And so he breaks from it all," I said while smiling. "See what happens when it all builds up? Can you feel it Miroku? Welcome to my life,"

For a long time, they stood in my doorframe. It was Reika who finally broke the stillness by going back into Miroku's room, shortly afterwards, Miroku left while slamming the door behind him. I could hear them talking to each other from his room. It was obvious that she was upset. I said some horrible things, but I didn't regret it. A few minutes later I heard a door slam followed by the start of a car engine. I thought his car wasn't here. Maybe he had her car or something. I guess there would be no sex tonight, I thought amusingly…

The slamming of the front door is what woke me up from my little nap. The jingling of keys being thrown on the floor is what I heard following the slamming of the door. Then it was the heavy footsteps headed towards my room, then my door being flung open by one very angry man.

"Why did you say all of that to her?" he asked me as calmly as he could. "Do you have any idea how much you've hurt her?"

"I have an idea," I said. "I'm pretty sure it must hurt to know the truth,"

"You've ruined everything Sango! Why couldn't you just keep your mouth shut? Why did you have to come back today? Everything would have been fine if you would have just stayed away! Everything would have been fine if—"

"You would have never said anything about me being abused!" I yelled back. "If you wouldn't have been being nosey that day you saw Kohaku being beat and then when my father slapped me then this would have never happened! You would have been free to fuck Reika all the time you were here! Who really is the one to blame in this situation, Miroku?"

"I want you out of here, Sango," he said. "I don't care if I get in trouble with Mr. Takahashi, I want you out,"

"If you were just going to throw me out why did you agree to have me here? What was the reason Miroku? Was it so you could get into my pants?" I yelled once more. My eyes were burning with all the tears I was shedding.

"I don't even know why I agreed on having you here. I regret letting you stay here. Why don't you just make this easier on me and just run away like you always do. I'm pretty sure you can lie your way out of it,"

There it was; the knife straight to my heart. I should have known he would say something like that. But what does it matter? All along I knew something like this would happen. I knew me moving in with him would have ruined our friendship. After all, I'm just a screw up…

"Fine, if you want me out of the house that badly, I'll leave," I said while sitting up from my bed. "I'll leave right now. Maybe I'll go to Kagome's house, or maybe even with Inuyasha. I have a basic idea of where Kouga lives. Maybe I can go there instead. Wouldn't it be safer if I went to a guy's house? My dad would never dream of looking at a guy's house since he figured I only had one friend. But I'll just pack my things and get out of your way, Miroku,"

"Stop trying to give me the guilt treatment, Sango. It's not going to work this time," he said sternly.

"I wasn't trying to give the guilt treatment. I'm trying to figure out somewhere where I can be safe. I guess the safest place would be with Kouga. If you don't mind, I'll use your phone and give him a call, then walk to his house when I get the directions. I don't think he lives very far from you, does he? I'm pretty sure my dad won't be driving around looking for me around Kouga's house." I stood up and made my way towards where the phone was at. I passed by Miroku who moved out of the way. As I grabbed the phone I heard Miroku walk back towards his room. I dialed Kouga's number and when we began talking I let out a sigh.

"_I'm sorry, Sango,"_

"Don't worry about it, Kouga," I said while trying to hold back the tears. "I'll see you later alright? I need to call Inuyasha now,"

"_Alright Sango, again, I'm really sorry,"_

I hung up the phone and hesitated. I really didn't want to call Inuyasha and ask him if I could stay over. I knew how upset his dad would be to hear that it wasn't working out here. The only thing I could do was explain it to him what had happened these past few weeks and hope that he would at least let me stay a couple of days to clear my head. Automatically, I began dialing his number and I waited for the phone to pick up. Just my luck, Mr. Takahashi answered. After the hellos were said I immediately began talking about what had happened with Miroku. Needless to say, when I was finished, he was not a happy dog demon. He explained to me again about how I had to stay with Miroku, no matter what was going on. Even after I asked if I could only stay a few days he had said no, and I knew that was his final word. I replied a thank you and then hung up.

"Well, what did he say?" Miroku asked.

"He said I had to stay here," I said while placing the phone back.

"It seems as if you're going to have to leave anyways, because I don't want you here,"

"You've mentioned that," I replied while walking towards my room. He followed.

"Are you going to leave soon? I convinced Reika to come back and stay the night but I assured her you'd be gone,"

"I knew it,"

"You knew what?"

"That I can't trust men, they're all the same," I told him while staring into his violet blue orbs. I looked away again and grabbed my bag. "It seems as though this is goodbye Miroku. I hope you and Reika have a nice life together."

He didn't say anything as I made my way towards the front door. As I was touching the handle I looked back at him for the last time.

"Oh wait, I forgot something," I said while walking back to him. I looked into his eyes and for a moment I saw that same look I used to always see in his eyes when he would look at me; pure adoration. My hands clenched into fists as I looked at him. Then, with all the power I could muster, I punch him right on the side of his face. "That's for being a two timing asshole!"

I turned back around and headed again for the door. I didn't hesitate this time as I opened the door and walked out of his house. I turned around and saw him just standing there rubbing his cheek. I was sure the tears were evident in my eyes, but I rubbed them away furiously. I would no longer cry over Miroku Houshi.

"And I'm standing here alone, still I hold my head up high, the time has come for me to leave, it's the only way to survive,"I sang quietly while walking down the street passed the bus stop and going past it. I looked up at the sky and then back down as I began walking to my destination. "It's the only way to survive…"

* * *

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**Inumel-mel**

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	5. I Know You're Still There

_**I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.**_

**Scars and Cuts**

**Chapter Five**

**I Know you're Still There**

I felt like I was having déjà vu. It seemed like the first time I ran away to Miroku's house. But this time, I had no idea where I was going to go. For awhile I considered Kagome's house. It seemed as if that would be a bad place to go since my dad could drop by anytime just to visit the shrine. The more I thought about going to Kagome's house the longer I longed for it. Finally making my decision, I turned back around and headed towards the bus stop I had just passed. I sat down and I could see Miroku's place perfectly. The lights were on and his car was in the drive way. I guess he had left it at Reika's house and when he dropped her off he switched cars.

I waited for thirty minutes before the bus came again. With one final glance, Miroku's house was now nothing but a memory. It was time to move forward with my life and leave all my thoughts of him behind me. Boarding the bus, I found a spot in the back and sat there. I looked at the scenery once again and frowned. Everything was so normal compared to my life. I bet being normal feels nice; normal family, normal friends, a normal boyfriend, if there even is such a thing. Maybe all the "normal" people are really the ones living in the fantasy. Maybe it's the people who get abused that really live the normal life. I shrugged my shoulders at the thought and continued to look out the window. Why is it that now I was thinking about all the times I spent with Miroku? Every memory came flooding back, including the recent ones. I shook my head violently. I didn't have time to think of that. First, I had to focus on what was going on this very moment.

The bus came to a stop and when I looked up I noticed the red street light. People were busily crossing the street, even though it was already close to nine. I wonder what these people go thru every day. Are any of them being abused like my family? It was a great possibility, one that I didn't really want to come to my attention at the moment. Letting out yet another sigh, I began rummaging through my backpack to find something to pass the time. I pulled out a notebook and began to doodle and write little sayings in the margins of the paper. So far I had "screw you cunt face!" and "no more monkey's jumping on the bed" and random things like that. I looked up finally and noticed I was almost at the stop I needed to be at. I pulled the string to get off and right when I was walking off the bus, the bus I needed to take to Kagome's house went speeding by.

"Oh shit!" I yelled running towards the bus. "Wait!" I yelled again, but I knew it was useless. The bus was already almost two blocks away by the time I made it to the stop. I looked up at the sky and cursed. "You must really hate me,"

I kicked a rock that was on the ground and began walking down the street towards Kagome's house. This day just kept getting worse and worse. Thankfully it was already the end of the day, but hey, more messed up things could happen and knowing my luck, they probably would happen. The worst thing that could happen was my dad showing up out of nowhere and seeing me. Realizing this, it made me panic. What if he did show up out of nowhere and see me? I was wide open with no form of protection. It would be easy just to snatch me up and take me back home. And then do what? Beat me, rape me, and kill me? Hell, possibly all three. I shivered silently, even though it wasn't cold outside. Why'd I have to go and be so stupid with all of this? Maybe it would be better if this happened…no one would care…

"And there you go pitting yourself again," I said aloud. "Just stop it!"

I continued walking to my destination, trying to stay as alert as possible. After ten more minutes of walking, I finally made it up to the shrine steps. I slowly started walking up the steps when I heard a car pull up behind me. At first, I thought it was just someone looking at the never ending stairs; that was until the door opened and I heard a voice that haunted my very nightmares.

"Why, hello there, Sango,"

I froze in my spot. I wasn't even more than half way up the stairs yet and I knew I was in danger. I was that poor little field mouse, becoming the prey of the owl, and the owl was my father. I turned around slowly and saw him. He looked the same way he always did. His skin flushed from the drinking, his body, lean from the rigorous exercises he would do every afternoon before he came home from work, making the blows so much more painful than they had first started out as. He was smiling at me, that same smile that made my heart beat faster in fear; the look of the predator about to attack his prey.

"I've been looking for you everywhere, do you know that?" he asked while walking up the stairs slowly. Every time he took a step toward me I took one step back. "I always figured you would come here, it was just a matter of time. Luckily for me I drove by on the right night. Where have you been staying at anyways Sango? You didn't have many friends to begin with."

I didn't dare answer him. I just kept walking backwards while he walked forwards. Why did I feel so trapped? I could hide just about anywhere on the shrine. I knew the grounds like the back of my own hand, and he knew nothing about the hidden rooms. I recalled briefly the one room where I knew I could hide in there for hours and regardless of continuous searching, no one would find me.

"Why don't you say something to your father, Sango? Don't you know he missed you very much while you were gone?" he asked with a chuckle. "If you come home with me now I'll promise to go easy on you tonight, but as for the rest of the time you're with me, I can't promise such compassion."

Still not being able to speak, not trusting myself to speak, I put my head down, seeming to him as if I was going to go with what he said. I guess it fooled him, because I think he figured I was going to follow him. I walked down two steps and then, turned around fast and ran up the Higurashi Shrine steps. From behind me, I could hear my father yelling out my name and cursing at me. I didn't dare turn around and see how far behind he was. As I neared the top, I could hear my breathing come out in short gasps; I couldn't stop now, I just couldn't. It would mean death if I did. Turning left, away from the house I ran towards one of the smaller shrines that was on the property. I quickly slid open the door and shut it fast behind me. I prayed for forgiveness as I ran through the shrine with my shoes on. I also promised myself that I would clean this shrine along with anything else that I got dirty when this nightmare was over.

I knew exactly where the room was but before I went to said room, I ran into two more, looking behind me to see I was in fact leaving a trail of footprints behind me. I opened the door to a random room and walked towards the back behind some boxes and that's where I took off my shoes. I placed them there along with my backpack, knowing full well that my dad would follow the track of mud to this spot. Then, as quietly as I could, I slid open the same door I had just closed and peaked out. I couldn't hear my dad yet, so I was good. As quietly as humanly possible, I shut the door and walked to where I needed to go. It was only a few rooms down from this one.

It didn't take me long to reach my destination. As soon as I opened the door the layout automatically became familiar to me. Walking towards the back of the room, I felt along the wall for the familiar carving that would tell me I was in the spot. When I found it, I dropped to the floor quietly, and then pulled at the floor boards. Once the boards were up, I let myself fall a few feet into the ground. When I reached the bottom I placed the boards back over the hole and then low crawled a few inches past where the opening was at. Then, when I finally made it, there was a room underneath the floorboard. I couldn't stand up all the way, but I knew that I would be safe under there.

And then, I waited.

It felt as if hours passed before I heard the door open up above me. Slowly I heard the steps of someone above me, and then I heard his voice…

"Come on out Sango, I know you have to be here somewhere…" my dad said although it sounded slightly muffled. "You thought you could trick me by placing all those tracks and then putting your backpack and shoes there? I'll find you Sango, even if I have to wait all night."

He kept talking after that. I could hear boxes getting thrown around and every time he didn't find me, he would get louder and angrier. I now desperately wished I had a cell phone. I could have text Kagome telling her what was going on and she could have called the police. Who knows how long I'll be stuck here?

Finally, after who knows how long, he left that room, his footsteps getting quieter and quieter until I couldn't hear them anymore. But I couldn't leave yet, he could just be waiting for me, even though he didn't know where I was at. My eyes would never adjust under here since there was no light source to name. I didn't know what time it was, all I knew was that before when I was on the bus it said nine. What time was it now? Had hours passed by since I had been hiding? I felt something crawling on me and I had to try not to squeal in disgust. More bugs started crawling on me, I couldn't take it anymore!

Finally deciding to leave my hiding spot, I made my way back out of the tiny crawl space and up to the loose floor boards. Carefully, I lifted them up and peaked out. I couldn't see much except for the outlines of boxes that were now scattered all over the floor. As quietly as I could, I hoisted myself out of the hole and crept over to the sliding door, noticing that it wasn't closed all the way. Sliding it open a little wider, I poked my head out and looked back and forth. I didn't see my father standing around so I opened the door wider and stepped out. I began walking as fast as I could without making too much noise to the front of the shrine. Then out of nowhere I stopped in the middle of the hallway. What if my dad was waiting for me there? What if he figured I was hiding in one of the rooms and knew eventually I would run out of the main door? I took a few steps back and turned into another room, knowing well enough that there would be another sliding door that would lead me outside.

Carefully I made my way across the room and slid the door open. It was facing the back of the shrine so I could see the south wall. Looking to my right I saw the Sacred Tree and I couldn't help but smile at the sight of it. I walked all the way out and closed the door behind me. I could hear the sounds of crickets and when the wind would blow, it made the leaves and grass rustle. I could feel sweat above my brows begin to trickle down and I wiped at it furiously. The last thing I needed was for it to blind me. As quietly as I could I walked over to the tree, climbed over the fence –at this point I was breaking all the rules—and hid behind its massive trunk. Checking to make sure that the coast was clear I once again climbed over the low fence and ran towards the back door; once I reached it I grabbed the handle and prayed it was open.

"Sango," I heard him calling my name. I froze; my hand still on the doorknob. "I know you're around here somewhere. I heard you open the door leading to outside. It's all over now, just come back home with me and I promise I'll go easy on you for a few days."

I could tell he was close to me; I just wasn't sure on how close. I twisted the doorknob, finding that the backdoor was in fact left open, and silently thanked whoever decided to cut me some slack. I walked in quickly, closing it behind me and locking it. I was making my way up towards the staircase, when I looked out a window and saw him standing there looking in on me. I froze in my spot and just continued to stare into his menacing eyes. He beckoned me towards him, and like an idiot, I walked towards him; the only thing coming in between us a thin piece of glass.

"If you don't come out I'm going to call the police and say the Higurashi's are harboring a runaway."

"I'd like to see you try, you bastard!" I whispered fiercely. "I'd be gone before the cops even got here and you'd never know it!" he obviously didn't like that very much. It seemed as if his face got even more menacing than it had been before.

I backed up away from the window and made it to the staircase, climbing it as quietly as I could. When I reached Kagome's door I opened it silently and I could clearly make out the outline of her body, her even breathing confirming that she was indeed asleep. I was about to head over to her sleeping figure, but then I stopped. What would happen if I woke her? I didn't want to get Kagome and her family involved with something like this, regardless of the fact that she wanted to help me. I couldn't do that to her, to Mrs. Higurashi, to her brother and grandfather. What right did I have to interfere with their lives like this? I didn't have one.

I backed away from her bed slowly and mentally swore. How could I get out now? The only way down was by taking the stairs and he'd for sure see me if I made it back down. It would be nearly impossible to get out of the shrine from the stairs. I searched my brain for some possible answer and was, unfortunately, coming up with nothing.

Kagome stirred in her sleep and I froze. As quietly as I could, I backed away towards her door. As I stepped down one of the floorboards creaked and I froze yet again. I could feel my panic rising as I saw Kagome sit up in bed. She looked towards her window and tilted her head to the side.

"Inuyasha…?" she called out, still looking at her window. After awhile of just sitting there, she lay back down and curled up under her blankets.

I walked over towards her window and got an idea. Inuyasha was always climbing up and down from here. Always sneaking into her room to watch her sleep or so they could talk. Creepy, but oh well. As quietly as I could I opened the window and peered down. The fall didn't seem too bad. I'd probably end up only with a sprained ankle and cuts; nothing too bad. I laughed at myself; I really was an idiot.

I grabbed onto the window frame and hoisted my body out of the window. I stood on the small ledge and closed the window behind me. I looked over to my right and saw a small tree I could probably climb down. Figuring that was my best bet I reached over and clung onto a sturdy looking branch. I inhaled deeply and placed my barefoot onto another branch and carried my body over to the tree. I made it safely. I smiled in spite of myself and as I started climbing down, my unprotected food landed hard and a piece of the wood that was sticking out. I bit my lip hard to stop myself from crying out. I lifted my leg slowly and continued my journey down.

When I finally made it safely to the ground I all but swore out loud. The bottom of my foot was bleeding quite a bit and if I walked it would only leave a trail. I couldn't think of anything to do, so I just ran for it. If he did follow my trail, it would only lead to the south part of the shrine and after that, I'd be in the small patch of woods. Hopefully by then the blood would dry and I wouldn't have to worry about my dad. I finally reached the south wall and grabbed onto the top. I pulled myself up, my arms protesting the whole entire time. Yet I forced myself to climb, it was a life or death situation.

Finally making it over, I dropped to the ground, ignoring the pain in my foot and started running at full speed. I didn't care if I was making noise and he'd come after me, he would never know which way I exited, or if I made it out of the woods at all. The pain in my foot became doubled as I stepped on rocks of all sizes and even the occasional glass bottle. I swear I heard someone walking behind me but I wasn't sure if I was imagining things or it actually happened. I was too scared to find out. I'm scared, I realized. I might die if he finds me. I could feel my adrenaline rushing through me and I began to run faster.

And then I heard it; the sound of footsteps coming closer. I stopped instantly in my track, hoping that they would stop as well. If they stopped, then that meant he was still looking for me. But if the footfalls continued…then I was already found.

Just my luck, they were still coming. I kept moving, hoping that I'd make it out of the forest alive. If he killed me here, no one would find me. Well, maybe Inuyasha would with his great sense of smell but that would take awhile…maybe. I'm not sure how that worked and now wasn't really the time to reflect upon it. I looked up and saw houses in the distance; I was almost out! I had just reached it when suddenly there was a hand on my shoulder. I was about to scream when the second hand covered my mouth and pulled me close to their body. I tried to kick but I couldn't force my limbs to move. I was about to bite down on my captors hand when they spoke.

"Shh, Sango, relax," he said. "It's Kouga."

"Mmmhmm?" I tried to speak, but he kept his hand held firmly in place.

"He's looking for you," I heard him whisper into my ear. "So stop moving so much and wait until he passes,"

As we waited in the forest, my eyes began to adjust to the darkness. Kouga was still holding onto me; I wasn't sure as of why but for some reason I didn't mind. Maybe it was comforting that he went all this way to protect me. Or maybe I was just an idiot. Twenty minutes passed and Kouga finally relaxed his grip on me.

"He's gone; I heard his car drive away," he spoke. He looked down at me, his ice blue eyes looking into mine. "What the hell were you thinking, Sango?"

I took a step back from him before answering. "My fight or flight reflexes kicked in. I knew I didn't stand a chance fighting him so I took off." I told him about going into Kagome's house and how I almost woke her up, and then deciding it would be best to leave her out of it.

"I'm glad you did," he answered honestly. "It would have probably been a lot worse."

"And by worse you mean what? Kagome waking up, me spilling my guts to her about how Miroku kicked me out, blah blah blah, then her calling Inuyasha, his dad coming over and confronting my dad while…yeah that would have been worse." I said while rubbing the back of my head.

"Why'd he kick you out? You never did tell me when you called me, only that you needed to stay over for a few days."

"Apparently he has a girlfriend and—"

"Oh you mean Reika?"

"Why the hell does everyone know this already?" I all but yelled. He winced from my raised voice and told me to calm down.

"I only know her because Ayame knows her," he said. "I think they met because of Ayame or something like that."

"Reika said they met while she was a freshman in college?"

"Yeah, she was a freshman but because of Ayame they met. I remember, because Ayame and Miroku both had college classes during our sophomore year; apparently Ayame knew her from one of their classes together."

"Great," I muttered. "Was Kagome and I the only ones who didn't know Miroku was screwing a college girl behind our backs?"

Kouga shrugged, "I guess so. We've all hung out a few times since they've been dating. I didn't think it would turn into anything but I guess so since they're getting married."

"How'd you find out about that?" I asked curiously.

"Reika called me last week and told me the news,"

"When last week?"

"Um, was it Wednesday or Thursday? I believe it was Wednesday that she told me."

"That's when Kagome and I found out," I said, thinking about what happened that day. It hurt even just to remember. How close they were sitting; how they looked at each other; his mothers' necklace…

"Yeah they told me that later too; we all went out to celebrate."

I didn't say anything this time. Instead I turned away from him and began walking out of the small woods. I heard him call my name and heard his footsteps coming towards me. I didn't stop when he asked me to; I just kept walking back around towards the front of the shrine. What did break me out of my little pity party was when he asked where I was going.

"I need to get my shoes and backpack from inside the shrine. I left them there when I was trying to hide from my dad."

"Are you sure you want to go back? What if your dad decides to come back and look again?" he grabbed onto my arm, stopping me in my tracks. "You can't go back there, Sango. He'll just come again another day."

"I wasn't planning on staying, Kouga." I said through clenched teeth. "I just need my shoes and bag. I have enough clothes to just hang out somewhere and when I need to wash clothes I'll just…I don't know."

The grip on his arm loosened and I pulled free. I began walking off again and a few minute passed before I heard his footfalls behind me again. We finally made it to the shrine steps and began climbing them two at a time. I was panting when I made it up, but Kouga was breathing perfectly; jerk. He led the way this time, following my scent.

"How did you know I was here?" I asked suddenly, interrupting the silence.

"After you called me from Miroku's house, I had a feeling that something was going on between you two. I left a little while after we hung up and went to Miroku's house to see what was up. He told me that you left, and that was all. Reika was there and she looked pretty upset about something so I left. I figured you'd head to Kagome's house if you left so I headed over here. That's when I saw your dad's car and figured you were in trouble. I didn't know how to help though, seeing as no one else was supposed to be there. I was waiting behind the Sacred Tree when I saw you climbing down the tree from Kagome's room. I smelt your blood too, so I decided to meet you in the forest. Did you know you were heading in the wrong direction the whole time?"

"Figures," I said miserably. "Thanks for that by the way, I never did thank you."

"Ah, it's no problem," he answer smiling.

I smiled back at him, but didn't say anything. As we made our way to the shrine I could clearly see my footprints on the now dirty floor. I groaned and Kouga started laughing. I might as well clean this up before I grab my stuff. I told Kouga so and he agreed it would be wise, also that he would help me to make the work load easier.

After grabbing the appropriate things we quickly made our way into the shrine and started moping and sweeping. We stayed silent the whole time; neither of us knew what to say and I figured that was for the best. I didn't want to know anymore about Reika and Miroku and I'm sure he figured I didn't want to know either. And yet, I found myself asking questions about them anyways.

"Has Miroku ever cheated on her?"

"Not that I know of," he answered honestly. "If he did what could I possibly tell him? He would know it was wrong and that he shouldn't do it."

"What about him flirting?"

"Miroku flirts with everything that has boobs and nice legs, Sango. You should know that."

"Yes, I'm aware of that," I said, a hint of sadness and anger in my tone. He looked up at me and I looked away from him.

"Wait a minute, are you saying he was flirting with you or something?"

"He's always flirting with me Kouga," I said. "Every day that I can remember, he's always finding some way to flirt with me, even though he's with Reika. Do you know how frustrating that is? Thinking 'Hey, he actually likes me,' and then finding out later that he has a girlfriend of two years? I bet you have no idea how that might feel for a girl,"

He stayed silent, his eyes looking at me. I kept cleaning, more vigorously now, and when he didn't stop staring I looked into his blue eyes. "What?"

"You're in love with him, aren't you?"

I felt my cheeks heat up and I wasn't sure if it was from embarrassment or anger. I looked away again and kept mopping, refusing to look at him or answer his question. Should have known the silence would only answer the question.

"You are, I can tell, Sango," he said again. "Why didn't you just tell him?"

"Because if I would have, that would have complicated things; more complicated than they are right now," I answered while grabbing the dirty water. I tried pulling it up but my arms screamed in protest, obviously still sore from climbing the fence. Kouga reached over and pulled it out of my hands, urging me to continue talking. "No one knew I was being abused at home. Just imagine adding a boyfriend into the mix. It would have been nothing but trouble and hard to hang out at all together. It would have never lasted,"

"It seems as if you've thought a lot about it,"

"I have, that's all I used to think about," I admitted, might as well spill everything. "I've been thinking about being Miroku's girlfriend since the year after he transferred to our middle school. But now it'll never happen because he's getting married and because he hates me. Go figure, right?"

"I don't think he hates you, Sango," Kouga said. "I just think he hates himself,"

"Why wouldn't he hate me? I ruined everything for him and Reika. He has no excuse to hate himself, maybe just to gain pity from people."

"You're doing the same thing you know, saying how you 'ruined his life' and all that bull shit. He ruined his own life Sango, by playing both you and Reika." Kouga argued. "If he wants pity then he isn't getting any. It was fucked up what he did, even if he was pissed off at you, he should have never kicked you out like that."

"I only pity myself, Kouga. I pity myself because I find myself in positions like this every damn day of my life. I should have known all guys are the same." I mumbled. I didn't care at his point if my words offended Kouga or not. I had way too many bad experiences with men to last me a lifetime. "What am I going to do, Kouga? I told Mr. Takahashi that Miroku kicked me out and he said I had to go back, that I didn't have a choice."

"Then maybe you should go back anyways. Miroku's hardly there anyways, he's always with Reika. Maybe you should stay there and whenever Miroku does go back you just find somewhere else to go."

"I wouldn't mind doing that at all, it would probably be a hell of a lot better than just bumming around. But what if, let's say, I'm in the shower when Miroku comes home. He'll find me, yell at me for being in his house, and kick me out. I'll probably be naked too. So if that ever does happen it wouldn't be the best,"

Kouga grinned at me. "Maybe, if you're lucky, he'll be to engrossed at seeing you naked that he won't even think about kicking you out,"

"Don't be a pervert, Kouga," I said groaning.

"I'm pretty sure he'd let you stay if you flashed him,"

"I'd rather live on the streets,"

"You know I'm kidding, Sango,"

"Of course you are,"

For awhile we bickered about if he really meant it or not and by the time we realized it we were finished cleaning the shrine. We put all the things we used away to their original places and we headed towards where my stuff was at. I walked into the room and saw that the contents of my bag had been thrown all over the room.

"My dad must have been pretty pissed," I said stating the obvious. "I wonder what he was looking for. Or maybe he was just trying to get me upset,"

"That might be it; it's not as if you had anything in there, right?"

"No, not that I know of," I said trying to think about what might have been in there. "I know for a fact I had nothing of Miroku's in there, which would have been bad,"

"That is true," he agreed. "If you would have had anything of Miroku's, or that obviously belonged to a guy, he'd know that you had guy friends,"

"It's not as if he would be able to do anything to Miroku," I answered. I began picking up all of my clothes and stuffing them into my bag. I finished putting everything away and grabbed by shoes from the floor. "He wouldn't even know where Miroku lived at, so he'd be safe,"

"He'd only be safe from your dad. But from me, that's a different story,"

"What are you talking about?"

"He played with your emotions, Sango, which is completely fucked up, as I had said before. I know it's none of my business but you're my best friend and I don't like seeing you hurt. Furthermore, Reika is Ayame's friend and I know Ayame is going to be pissed about this and I'm gonna have to stick up for Reika."

"That's the stupidest and touching thing I have ever heard from you, Ookami," I answered truthfully. He laughed at me and motioned for me to hurry up.

After that, it was silent once again. We walked out of the shrine, put our shoes on, and made our way down the shrine steps. We had only taken three steps when Kouga stopped and grabbed my arm.

"What's wrong?"

"He's down there, that bastard," he growled. "He probably drove away just so you'd think he was gone,"

"That's too smart for him," I answered.

"It doesn't matter, what does matter is that we're gonna have to exit another way,"

"Let's cut through the woods again, I'm sure he won't be looking over that way,"

He nodded his head and we turned back towards the forest. This night was just starting to turn annoying. We made it to the fence and when we did Kouga began climbing over. Once he was up he reached down for my hand and grabbed it, pulling me up with him. From there he jumped to the ground then helped me down as well. He led me towards the far end of the small cluster of trees and when we made it out, we were behind the shrine.

"I wish I could just go back to this morning and take up Kagome's offer to stay the night again," I complained. "This would have never happened,"

"It would have happened eventually," Kouga told me honestly. "If not today, then another day,"

"You're right," I admitted. "What should I do now? I can't just keep wandering the back roads forever,"

He inhaled deeply and shrugged his shoulders; obviously I wasn't the only one who was stuck. Suddenly, I felt defeated. I couldn't go anywhere without being found. I could never come back to Kagome's house; a once safe place for me had now become a place of bad memories and insecure thoughts. A place for my dad to drop by regularly and interrogate the Higurashi's who are oblivious to this all. The more I thought about it, the more I realized exactly what I had to do. I exhaled roughly and squared my shoulders.

"I know where I have to go,"

"Oh and where is that?" he asked curiously.

"Inuyasha's house,"

"You're kidding, right?"

"No, I'm not," I answered truthfully. "I have no choice but to go to Inuyasha's house. I can't go anywhere else because there's nowhere else to go. I'd rather be with a house full of demons then live on the street defenseless. Besides, Inutaishio will find out eventually and then I'll just get into bigger trouble then I already am."

"Yeah, but honestly Sango, do you really think Mr. Takahashi is going to let you stay at his house? I thought he was clear about his opinion on what you were supposed to do, regardless of what happened between you and Miroku,"

"Maybe he'll feel bad and let me stay," I said half heartedly. "If anything, he'll get pissed off at Miroku than me. Miroku's the one who is going against him, not me. I was just doing what I thought was best. If all else fails, I'll tell Inutaishio that Miroku threatened to kill me,"

"He'll know you're lying,"

"Perhaps, but maybe he'll believe me and yell at Miroku, that would be fun to see,"

Kouga shook his head while laughing and soon afterwards I joined him. I was about to say goodbye to him when he spoke.

"I'll walk you to his house,"

"You don't have to do that, Kouga,"

"I know I don't, but I don't want that asshole to find you. At least with me you'll have some sort of protection."

I knew arguing with him would be pointless, so I thanked him and we began walking to Inuyasha's house. Now, the fun was about to begin. Seeing as you could only really go to Inuyasha's place from the front of the shrine, and since my dad was at the front of the shrine, we had to find a different way that didn't include going in that direction. So, because of our little predicament, a normally fifteen minute walk was turned into almost an hour. We had to cut through the back streets, which usually wasn't very smart. But since Kouga was there, there wasn't any trouble. I was very glad he decided to stick around.

By the time we made it to Inuyasha's house, it was well past one in the morning. If Kouga was tired, he showed no signs of it. I, on the other hand, was beyond tired, not to mention sore as hell. My arms felt like they were going to fall off, and the cut on my foot was hurting so badly that I had started to limp. Kouga offered to carry me on his back, but I declined, saying that I'd had worse and this was nothing in comparison. We argued some more about that, but when Inuyasha's house started coming into view, we stopped talking.

"Maybe this was a bad idea after all…" I said quietly.

"I told you it was, but I already walked an hour just to get here, we're not turning back because you're scared,"

I sighed heavily and agreed with him. This was my idea, and I was going to stick with it no matter what. We finally made it to his house, and as we started to walk up to the front door, I swear my heart was trying to jump out of my chest. As always, when we were in front of the door, before either one of us could knock, the door opened, and there stood Mr. Takahashi himself.

"Sango? Kouga? What are you two doing here?" he asked while opening the door wider, motioning for us to come in.

"I can't stay long sir," Kouga said while staying outside. I glared at him, but he ignored me. "I was just walking Sango here,"

"Why, what's the matter?"

"It seems as if…Sango has run into some trouble. But speaking of running, I've got to run; I'll see you around Sango. Goodbye Mr. Takahashi." Kouga said, bowing politely.

I glared at him still was he ran off, not looking in my direction. What a jerk. I turned to Mr. Takahashi and met his stare, my heart pounding still.

"Something tells me this is going to be very interesting to hear," he said before closing the door.

"I'm afraid you're right…" I answered. Without saying a word, I took off my shoes, placed all of my things near the front closet, and followed Mr. Takahashi to his office.

"So, let me see if I've got this correctly," Mr. Takahashi said while sitting up straight in his chair. "Miroku kicked you out, regardless of me saying you had to stay, so you left to Miss. Higurashi's house. Then, to make matters worse, you run into your father, who tries to force you to leave with him, before hiding in the shrine, breaking into Miss. Higurashi's house, climbing out of the window and into the woods, only to run into Kouga, who just happened to be in the area. Then you came here?"

"That's pretty much it…" I agreed. Although, I didn't technically break into Kagome's house, seeing as the door was already unlocked, but I didn't mention that, he was already pissed off as it was.

"Sango, you do realize how important all of this is, don't you?" he asked rhetorically. "I received special permission for you to stay at Miroku's house, per your request, and yet you continue to treat my words as nothing but a simple suggestion. The judge would have a fit if he found out about all of this."

"I understand…"

"Do you? Because I don't think you do. If you would have understood, you wouldn't have left Miroku's house in the first place."

"I didn't have a choice," I argued back. "He didn't want me there; he pretty much forced me to leave. I tried telling him again that it was by your request that I stay there but he refused to listen to me."

"You should have stayed anyways," he said back. As if it was so simple. He leaned back into his chair, sighing heavily. "What happened exactly between you two that made him kick you out?"

I looked at my feet, blushing from embarrassment. I really didn't feel like telling him the whole situation on what had been happening between Miroku and me, but maybe if I did he'd understand a little. "Well…you see—"

There was a knocking on his office door and I sighed in relief. He commanded whoever it was to come in, and when the door opened, Mrs. Takahashi was standing in the doorway.

"Oh, I thought I heard you talking, I just figured you were on the phone," she said as she walked in fully. Her long hair was braided back; her slim figure covered by a blue satin robe. "Hello, Sango, it's nice to see you again,"

"Hi…"

"Izayoi now is not the time," Inutaishio said. "I've having an important talk,"

"It can wait," Izayoi said while placing her hand on my shoulder. "What is going on anyways that Miss. Sango is visiting so late?"

"She was about to tell me when you came in," he answered. "Apparently she's having some trouble living at Miroku's house,"

"Is that so?" she asked. She looked at me with her dark brown eyes, searching my own for the answer. "Oh, I see what's going on,"

"What?" Inutaishio asked confused.

"It makes perfect sense," she said without answered. "You poor girl," she said again while giving me the biggest hug I'd received in my whole life. "Don't worry about anything Sango; you can stay here for as long as you want."

"What?" Mr. Takahashi and I said at the same time.

"That's right," she said answering both of us. "For right now you can use Akira's room, and then tomorrow I'll let you use my studio to sleep in. I'm sure we have an extra bed around here somewhere that you can use,"

"Izayoi—"

"You clearly don't understand what this young woman is feeling. She'll stay here and that's final." She said, pulling me up to my feet. "You talk to your judge friend and tell him there has been a slight change in plans,"

"I can't just do that," Inutaishio said angrily.

"Sure you can. Just tell him that she'll only be living here until her trial starts, then she'll go back to living with Miroku. You're a lawyer; surely you can come up with some believable story. Now, Sango, let's get your things and we'll get you set up in Akira's room."

Without another word to Mr. Takahashi, Izayoi pulled me up from the chair and dragged me out of his office and into the hallway. She didn't stop to tell me anything, or to explain to a half asleep Inuyasha what, exactly; I was doing in their house. Upon arriving at Akira's door, she opened the door and ushered me in. She switched on the light and closed the door behind us, leaving the room sealed with only us two inside.

"Mrs. Takahashi, I—"

"Sango, I'd really like it if you called me Izayoi. We've known each other far too long for you to still call me so formally. Now, I'll get Inuyasha to bring your things up here so you can get some rest. You look absolutely tired,"

"Izayoi," I said finally. "Are you sure this is alright?"

"Of course it is, I don't want you to be uncomfortable with Miroku," she answered truthfully. "Besides, I can see it written all over your face that something, or rather someone has caused you great pain."

I said nothing to this, because it was true. I didn't have to explain anything to Izayoi, because being of the same gender; she knew what I was going through, unlike Inutaishio who obviously had no clue to how I was feeling. I felt my eyes start tearing up; I wasn't used to this much kindness. I thanked her silently, not saying anything after that. Before she left, she told me that Inuyasha would bring my things and that tomorrow, if I was up to it, we would talk. I thanked her once again and she exited Akira's room, leaving me alone.

True to her word, Inuyasha came and deposited my things to me. And of course, he asked me what was going on. After promising him that'd I'd give him the full story tomorrow, he left me alone once again.

Looking at Akira's walls, I suddenly missed that silly half-demon like crazy. She would have known exactly what to do with this situation. Akira had posters of all kinds of things hanging on her walls. Most of them were favorite bands, photos of friends, and, of course, music sheets; endless music sheets. She had shared a few with me, but seeing them so open on her walls, made me look away in shame. This was her private room that had all of her deepest words hanging on the walls; I felt like an intruder to her own sanctuary. I sighed heavily and began undressing from the clothes I was wearing. I grabbed a long shirt from inside my bag and put it on, not caring enough to put on bottoms. Turning off the light, I walked over to Akira's bed and pulled the covers back and lay there, my eyes staring at the ceiling. The dark purple paint reminded me of Miroku, and I felt my heart do that same summersault. It seemed that no matter what he put me through, I would ultimately always love him.

I closed my eyes tightly, willing the love I had for him to go away, but the harder I tried, the stronger it seemed to become. So with another sigh, I rolled over onto my side and fell asleep, the pages of Akira's thoughts comforting me as I was lulled into sleep.

* * *

**You guys have no idea how hard it was to write this chapter. I know it seemed like this chapter ended so suddenly, but I didn't want it to be any longer than it already was. If that would have happened, it would have been a run-on chapter, and this chapter already feels like it.**

**I will be working on chapter six as soon as possible; thank you for staying with me after my year long absence. If you have any suggestions or would like to flame me, that is alright. Flames are always welcome.**

**Remember, reviews make the world go round,**

**Inumel-mel**

**Follow my story on twitter! (at)Inumel(underscore)mel**


	6. Return to Me, Salvation

_**I do not own the Inuyasha characters. I do own the plot for Scars and Cuts and the characters Akira Takahashi and Katsuo Yamamoto.**_

**Scars and Cuts**

**Chapter Six**

**Return to Me, Salvation**

I wish I could say that I slept peacefully, but then I'd be lying. All night, I tossed and turned, never being comfortable for too long. My dreams were nothing but nightmares, none that I could remember at all. By seven in the morning, I was too awake to sleep anymore, even though my body was begging for me to get some rest. I sat up carefully, my head pounding in retaliation. I rubbed my eyes sleepily, yawning. I got out of Akira's bed slowly, letting my legs get used to my weight, before taking a step towards my things. I grabbed my stretchy pants from inside my bag and put them on, and then I grabbed my bra and put it on as well.

Turning around, I looked at my reflection and winced; I was dirty from my adventures in the hole at the shrine and wondering the woods. I placed my hand on the dresser for support and picked up my leg, examining the cut on my foot. It didn't look too bad, I guessed. I turned towards my bag and picked the whole thing up; might as well take a shower, I figured. I reached for the door handle and twisted it, opening the wooden door. I poked my head outside; everything was quiet. As quietly as I could, I headed towards the bathroom that was diagonal from Akira's room and right next to Inuyasha's room. I prayed silently that he wouldn't wake up and start bombarding me with questions. I knew that once I turned the shower on, he'd know I was awake, but I actually wanted to take a shower before I talked to him.

Making it safely to the bathroom, I closed the door, locked it, and then switched on the light. The bathroom was probably about as big as my bedroom back home. There was a stand up shower in the corner that had numerous settings; right next to it was their old fashioned bathtub, the really deep kind. The toilet was a few feet away from the shower and across from the toilet were two sinks; one for Inuyasha and one for Akira. The sink that was for Inuyasha had all of his cologne, toothbrush and toothpaste, and everything else that he needed. Akira's side was empty, which made me sad. It also made me realize that there was, yet again, going to be no female shampoo or conditioner. I could always use Inuyasha's stuff, but that made me think of the various times I would use Miroku's hair products, which in turn made my mood worsen.

Shrugging my shoulders, I decided to look under Akira's sink, praying that there would be some sort of feminine shampoo. I was very happy to realize that there was. It was Akira's favorite scent, Sweet Pea. I grabbed all of the bottles from underneath the sink and walked over to the shower, opening the door carefully and turned the handles on the wall. It began spraying out warm water and once it hit my body I sighed in content. I showered quickly and as soon as I was done, I got out and dried off. Dressing quickly I put all of Akira's stuff back where it was and brushed my hair out, pulling it into a ponytail at the top of my head.

I reached for the door handle and opened the door, only to run into Inuyasha. I yelped in surprise, steadying myself. I glared at him and he did the same thing. For awhile we stood there glaring at each other for no reason, and when he finally opened his big mouth to say something I answered first.

"Can we not have this conversation here in the bathroom? It's kind of awkward; also, one other thing, stop staring at me like that!"

"I'm not staring at you like anything!" he answered. "But fine, we'll talk in my room,"

"Can't be talk in the living room or something?"

"Do you want everyone to hear you? My room has silent proof walls,"

I hadn't thought about that, I thought to myself. I figured it'd be for the best if no one did hear me. So I muttered "fine" to Inuyasha and we walked to his room. When we entered, the lights were still turned off. He flicked the switch, lighting the room up to reveal a messy and smelly boys' room.

"Damn, Inuyasha, don't you ever clean your room?" I asked while narrowly avoiding stepping on an old pizza box. "You're going to get roaches in here,"

"Shut up, you sound like my mom," he growled. "Sit on the computer chair; it's probably the only thing that isn't dirty,"

I shuddered at the thought that that was the only thing clean in his room. Regardless, I made my way over to the chair and sat down, my gym bag still in my hands. I looked around and sighed heavily and dropped it on the floor. I looked back at him and he was watching me; I was about to tell him to stop staring at me when he began talking.

"What happened?"

How charming, I thought to myself. Instead of saying anything about my current train of thought, I explained to him how my dad found me walking to Kagome's house and how he chased me around the shrine. I was about to explain on how I made my great escape when he stopped me.

"Why were you going to Kagome's house? How come you weren't at Miroku's house like my dad told you to be?"

"About that…you see, after I had spent a week with Kagome, I had finally gone back to Miroku's place. The shit head locked me out of the house and hid the extra key. So I had to climb in through the window, the kitchen window mind you, and maneuver over all the dishes in the dish drainer. I finally make it inside and I hear, um…thumping noises. You know, they were doing um…" I looked away from him blushing. "Anyways, I caused a scene and when it was all over Reika got pissed off and Miroku had to drive her home. When he got back we yelled at each other and it ended with me leaving his house."

Inuyasha nodded his head, urging me to continue.

"So that's when I decided to go to Kagome's house instead. When I arrived though that's when my dad showed up. You already know what happened; after that I ran into Kouga and he helped me get out of there without my dad knowing. After he helped me clean up the shrine he walked me over here and here I am now," I concluded.

"So all of this happened simply because you saw Reika and Miroku fucking?"

"No, Inuyasha, I did not see them 'fucking,' I heard them," I said sourly.

"It couldn't have been that bad,"

"Have you ever heard someone having sex? It sounds disgusting!" I said angrily. "I used to hear my dad having sex with random women all the time."

"That's gross; I did not need to hear that,"

"Haven't you ever heard your parents going at it?"

"Sound proof walls, remember? All of the bedrooms have them,"

"Lucky you, I wish I could have been just as lucky,"

"Anyways, what did my dad say?"

"Nothing really, just that I had to go back. He wanted to know what had happened between Miroku and me but before I could even begin to try and explain it to him, your mom came in and ushered me to sleep,"

Inuyasha mumbled something along the line of "figures" and stayed quiet for a moment. During this time, I looked around his room some more. The walls were painted in a deep red color; the walls had various posters as well as pictures of friends and family. Most of the posters were that of games and bands, almost similar to Akira's room, minus the music sheets. One of the pictures, I noticed, was of all of us – Inuyasha, Miroku, Kagome, Kouga, Akira, and I – outside in front of the pool. That was the day before Akira left, I recalled.

"How is she?" I asked suddenly.

"What?"

"How's Akira doing? I haven't talked to her at all,"

"Well considering all you've been through, I'd be surprised if you had. She's doing fine from what she's told us. She misses everyone and is planning on coming to visit soon. I'm not sure when though, she wouldn't say,"

"Go figure," I muttered. "What time is it in New York right now?"

"It's probably late in the evening, why?"

"Because I want to talk to her," I stated.

"Fine, I'll get you her number and you can call her," he said. He reached for his cell phone and punched in her number for me. "Here, I haven't hit call yet."

"Thanks," standing up from my seat, I made my way to his door and opened it, ignoring him when he asked where I was going with his phone.

I quickly made it to Akira's room and slammed the door shut, locking it at the same time. I could hear Inuyasha's footsteps make his way over and in a matter of minutes he started pounding at the wooden structure.

"Give me my phone back!"

"Sorry, but the walls are sound proof so I can't hear you!" I yelled into the door, knowing he'd hear me. He called me every curse word in the book and minutes later he walked back to his room where I heard his door slam. Laughing to myself, I hit the talk button, put the phone up to my ear and waited for the half-demon to answer. Three rings later, she did.

"_Inuyasha didn't I just talk to you? You know I'm busy composing and yet you still continue to pester me? What do you want now?"_

"That's no way to talk to your brother, but since he is an ass, I guess that's alright."

"_Sango, oh my God, is that you?!"_

"Who did you think it was? Oh wait, your idiot brother,"

"_Oh my God, I've missed you! Why haven't you called me? I tried calling your house but no one would answer even after I kept calling for an hour!"_

"Maybe that's why no one answered," I said laughing. So it would seem as though Akira didn't know what was going on. I thought for sure Inuyasha would have told her. "So what are you up to, silly half-demon?"

"_I've just been writing like crazy! This place is so amazing, Sango! Oh I wish you could be here! At first I was so nervous about being around adults who have been doing this forever, but as soon as I got to my first class I felt right at home!"_

"Not too much at home, I hope," I joked while sitting down on her bed.

"_Enough at home for me to feel comfortable, I admit." She said laughing. "The people here are wonderful and every day I learn something new!"_

"Isn't that why you're in school?"

"_Don't be a smart ass Sango," she said laughing again. "Oh hold on real fast,"_

"Alright," I said. For a moment all I could hear was Akira moving around and then I heard a voice start talking. It was a man's voice, from what I could tell, but I couldn't hear what he was saying. For awhile all I could hear was Akira and this guy talk back and forth but I couldn't make out what they were saying. A few minutes later, Akira came back.

"_Sorry about that, it was, um, one of my teachers. But anyways, Sango, what have you been doing? How is everyone? Have my brother and Kagome gotten together yet? What about Sesshomaru? Has he finally found someone? What about you and Miroku? Have you two finally decided that you're head over heels in love with each other?"_

And just like that, I was stabbed in the heart. Granted, Akira didn't know. "I've been, you know, good. Everyone is fine; no, Inuyasha and Kagome aren't together. As far as I know, Sesshomaru hasn't found anyone. And as for Miroku and I, well…" I took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly before answering. "Miroku's engaged and it's not to me."

"_What do you mean he's not engaged to you?!"_

"Exactly as it sounds, Akira,"

"_That's ridiculous! He's in love with you! He told me so! That asshole! I swear when I go back to Tokyo I'm going to rip his throat out and shove it up his ass!"_

"Um, Akira…"

"_I can't believe he'd do that to you! He told me himself, 'Akira, I'm in love with Sango but I don't think she likes me back.' and I told him just to tell you and did he? No! He's off with some slut and he never even bothered to tell me! And he calls me his best friend, ha! Best friend my ass! Where's my phone? I'm going to call him right now and _demand _he break off the engagement with that tramp!"_

"Akira…"

"_Where the hell did my phone go?! Oh wait, I'm on it. Where's my laptop? I'm getting a ticket to Tokyo right now! I'm going to beat the shit out of him!"_

"Akira!"

"_What!"_

"Don't…don't worry about it," I managed to say. "It's no big deal; I'm over it, really."

"_Don't lie to me, Sango, I know you're lying. This is a very big deal!"_

"Seriously, I'm not lying to you,"

"_Yes you are, I can tell. Besides, I know you love him, too. I can tell every time you look at him."_

"That's not the point, Akira, the point is, is that he's happy with Reika and all we can do is wish him the best with his choice,"

"_Wait, he's _engaged _to _Reika?!_ I thought that was just a fling, he told me that himself like three months ago."_

"Akira, flings don't last for two years,"

"_They've been on and off for the past two years. You can even ask Ayame that; Reika and she are good friends and whenever they would break up Reika would run to Ayame and Miroku would go to me,"_

"Are you serious?"

"_Yes, why would I lie to you, Sango? The last I had heard, Miroku was pretty upset about something and was going to break it off with her. I asked him what had made him so upset but he wouldn't tell me. I tried talking to him about it the other day but, he just changed the subject. I can't believe he didn't tell me himself! When I get off the phone with you, I'm going to call him and cuss him out!"_

"So, you don't know what he was going to tell you; like at all?"

"_Nope, all he said was something had happened at school about two or three weeks ago and that it had really upset him."_

"At school huh," I thought for a while, thinking back to when he found out I was being abused. That had to be roughly three weeks ago. It could be that; or it could be something entirely different. But something in my gut was telling me it was the first thought. "Um, Akira, I know what Miroku was so upset about…"

"_Oh, you do? Tell me! I was dying of curiosity!"_

I sucked in a deep breath and lay back onto the bed. "Are you sitting down at least?"

"_Yes…"_

"Alright, just, promise me right now, you won't get upset,"

"_Pinky promise,"_

I exhaled slowly before I spoke, "Miroku was upset because that was the day he found out…found out that my dad would hit Kohaku and me; that was the day Miroku found out I was being abused at home."

There was silence on the other line for a long time. I didn't try and press Akira to say anything because I knew it was a lot to take in. So I stayed lying in her bed, staring up at the wall at some random song she had been working on but never finished. I knew she hadn't hung up because I could hear her breathing.

"_You…were being abused, Sango?"_

"Yes,"

"_How long had that been going on?"_

"It had been going on for five years,"

"_You were being abused for five years, Sango, and you didn't bother telling anyone about it?"_

"No,"

"_Why didn't you tell anyone, Sango? That's not something you keep from people."_

"I was scared; I was scared on what he might do to us if he ever found out we told someone. I had to protect Kohaku; I had to."

"_You should have called me, Sango. I could have talked to my dad and it wouldn't have had to have lasted for so long! Is that why no one had been answering at your house?"_

"That's the reason. I had been living with Miroku for a while, and then I stayed with Kagome for a week, now I'm going to be living at your house until my trial ends."

"_So that's why you called me on Inuyasha's number; how come you left Miroku's and Kagome's houses?"_

I sighed heavily and began telling her the story I had repeated already for three separate times. I didn't leave out any details about mine and Miroku's argument, I didn't skip the details on when I had first met Reika and how upset I had been, nor did I leave out any part about almost being caught by my dad. When I was done she didn't say anything for a long time.

"_I'm coming home,"_

"Wait, what?"

"_You heard me; I'm coming home. I don't want to be over here while you're in trouble Sango. I'll talk to the dean and tell him that there are issues at home and that I have to leave. I might get behind a bit but it won't be too much. I'll let my dad know later; I'm going to get the soonest available ticket to Tokyo."_

"Seriously Akira, you don't need to do that,"

"_I seriously think I do. I want to be there for you Sango, like a friend is supposed to be. I'm sure Miroku and the others are doing the same thing."_

"Didn't I already tell you that Miroku and I aren't even talking?"

"_What, you didn't tell me that! Why would you forget to mention something as important as that? Now I'm really going to kick his ass!"_

"Don't go start trouble, Akira," I warned. "Miroku's already in trouble with Kouga."

"_Good, he should be in trouble with everyone!"_

"Not to mention your dad is probably pissed off at him a well,"

"_Why would my dad be? You know what, don't tell me anymore. I'm getting my ticket right now as we speak. I'll see you in about a day or two. I've got to get packing; I'll see you then. Take care, Sango,"_

I was about to protest but I heard a click in my ear and then the dial tone. I flipped Inuyasha's phone shut and tossed it randomly on the bed. If I would have known Akira would flip out like this I wouldn't have told her at all. I'm sure I was going to hear it from Inuyasha or Inutaishio about Akira coming home from school; hopefully Izayoi is on my side.

_Buzz! Buzz!_

I half-heartedly searched for Inuyasha's phone and when I found it, I saw that Inuyasha had a text message. Curiosity getting the better of me, I flipped the phone open and my eyes literally almost fell out of their sockets. Inuyasha was texting Kikyo! That wouldn't be a problem, if Kikyo wasn't Kagome's cousin; it also wouldn't be a problem if Kagome and Kikyo actually got along, but they haven't gotten along in years. What could he possibly be talking to her about? I clicked the button that was labeled "view" and was shocked to see what the text read:

_Gud mrning babe. Still on 4 2day? ;)_

"Not only is Inuyasha obviously with Kikyo, but it would seem as if Kikyo truly is an idiot," I joked lamely. "I can't believe this…"

I began looking through the other text messages, horrified to see that most, if not all, of the messages were from Kikyo. There were a lot of text that had winky faces and, to my horror, sext messages. There were even a few picture messages from her, but I decided that I didn't want to see what Kikyo was sending to one of my friends. I kept browsing and saw a few from Kagome, asking him why he wasn't talking to her that much anymore. What an ass! Browsing further, I saw some from Miroku.

"Let's see what you have to say Houshi…"

_I can't believe I did that to her; I feel so horrible!_

"I wonder who he's talking about…"

_Who else do you think I'm talking about? I'm talking about Sango!_

"So he feels horrible about doing something to me? Good,"

_I don't know how I'm going to make this right with her, Yash. There has to be some way but nothing is coming to mind._

"Nothing you say or do can make this better Miroku,"

_I wish I could see her, but if I go anywhere near the shrine I know Kagome will beat the shit out of me. This isn't helping at all; I'll talk to you later._

I threw the phone once again and felt the tears prickle behind my eyes. He really was sorry…but I don't care! He brought this on himself for trying to play me. I wish him and Reika the best in their relationship.

_Bang, bang!_

"Sango can I have my phone back now!"

I reached for his phone and walked to the door. Once I had the door open I held out his phone. "Here, Kikyo wants to know if you're still on for today. Your girlfriend can't spell for shit, you know that?"

"You went through my text messages?!"

"Before you accuse me of anything, it was an accident." I lied. He obviously didn't realize the lie. "Does Kagome know?"

Instead of answering, he snatched his phone out of my hand and headed towards his room. Before slamming the door shut, I yelled:

"At least have the doggy balls to tell her; stop leading her on already!"

**Later that Evening**

Time was passing by way to slowly for my taste. As I knew, I got into a lot of trouble when Inutaishio found out Akira was coming back. And, as I also knew, Izayoi was on my side with the phone thing. Her words were "at least now we get to see our only daughter, don't you want that sweetheart?" The demon, being unable to respond, stomped off to his office before slamming the door shut.

"Don't worry about him, Sango," Izayoi had said. "He's just angry that he hadn't thought of it first,"

I was laying outside in one of the lounge chairs; I glass of water on the table next to me. I had, regrettably, run out of clean clothes and I had to yet again wear the same outfit I wore the day Miroku and I went swimming while their maid washed all of my clothes. I figured I might as well work on my tan while I was out here. I had my hair piled high on top of my head and my body stretched out. I randomly traced the scars that were on my body, not really paying attention to anyone or anything. I hadn't spoken much to Inuyasha ever since the whole text messaging incident. Since then though, I had the unfortunate luck to run into Kikyo while she came over so they could go on their date.

The experience had not been pleasant.

Not only did Kikyo get extremely jealous for the existence of another human being, especially a girl, being inside of Inuyasha's house, she also got upset that that specific human being was her cousins' best friend. Now, I normally try and avoid confrontation, but this time, she was asking for it; I wasn't in the mood to play these little kid games. So when she started complaining to Inuyasha about "that tramp" being inside his house, I can honestly say that she had it coming.

Inuyasha wasn't happy, to say the least. Not only did his girlfriend disrespect me, but now his date for the night had a black eye. I like to think that he's angrier at Kikyo than me, but I know he's still pissed off at me for snooping around his phone. No big deal for me; he was going to hear it later once Kagome found out.

"Promise me you won't tell her, Sango. I know you're good at lying," he had said angrily.

"I lied for a good reason, Inuyasha. I'm not going to cover for you if she asks me; I'm done with lying to my friends. Take my advice, Inuyasha, tell her the truth; there's no point in keeping it a secret from her."

"I don't need advice from you,"

I had left it at that, not caring enough to argue with him. I doubted Kagome would ever be "hey I hear Inuyasha has a girlfriend" or anything similar to that, but she did deserve to know…

I had never felt so torn before. Just thinking about this was tiring me out. I had more important things to think about. Like what was going to happen after my trial. Inutaishio had talked to me more about it and from what he was telling me, it wasn't going to be pretty. My case was simply a custody case; except I'd be taking custody of myself. If we won, and Inutaishio assured me that we more than likely would, I'd be granted permission to keep living with whomever (I still hadn't decided who) for a period of six months. In those six months, I had to find a job and suitable living arrangements. If not, it was either back to my dad or back with whoever was taking care of me before. This whole thing was just really starting to give me a headache, in all honesty. But of course, I couldn't tell that to Inutaishio, he would have a fit.

But, going back to my original thoughts, what about Kagome? Should I tell her even though Inuyasha asked me not to? I know that if our roles were reversed, she would tell me. So maybe I should tell her too…

"Gah! It's none of my business!" I concluded. Although there was a part deep down inside of me that was saying it sort of is.

I lounged throughout the rest of the day. As soon as my clothes were clean I dressed back into them; not feeling comfortable in the attire they had let me use. Where did they even get those shorts from anyways? I thought to myself after I was done changing. I had never seen Akira wearing them before, but that didn't mean that they weren't hers. Shrugging my shoulders I made my way into the living room where a very bored Inuyasha was sitting. He was flipping through channels lazily, not even really looking at the television. I sat down on the opposite side of the couch and watched the different channels go by. He finally stopped on a black and white zombie movie and he settled in.

"This is a good movie," I said lamely after thirty minutes had passed.

"For an American movie, yeah it is," he said, his eyes never leaving the screen.

After that, we sat in comfortable silence. Our attention stayed glued to the movie; only during the commercials did we actually say things or get up to use the bathroom or whatever. On one particular commercial I asked him the question that had been bugging me for a while.

"Inuyasha, are you still upset that I punched Kikyo?"

"Keh,"

"Answer me,"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Why else would I want to know?"

"Keh," he said again. "No, I'm not mad at you anymore."

"Really?" I asked in shock.

"Yes really," he said rolling his eyes. "It was her fault in the first place. Though at the time I was upset that you punched her, now I'm not."

"What did she say afterwards?"

"Honestly, she said nothing. Just sat there trying to cover her eye with make-up. There wasn't really much she could say now was there? She was being disrespectful and she got what she deserved."

"Let me guess, you didn't tell her any of this?"

"Keh, of course not," he said while crossing his arms. "I'm not that stupid,"

Instead of answering I just rolled my eyes and looked back at the television when the commercial break was over. Again we sat in silence as we watched the movie. When it was over Inuyasha began to flip through the channels once more.

By this time I was bored of just laying around doing nothing. I needed to get up and do something but going somewhere was out of the question. You would think I'd have enough adventure after that time in the woods but nope, I needed more. I stood up from the couch and began walking out of the living room. I ignored Inuyasha's questions about where I was going and headed back outside.

Next to the small guest house, was a smaller building; inside the structure was a gym. I opened the door and switched the light on. There were various amounts of exercising equipment and I smiled in excitement at all of them. I looked down at my clothes and shrugged; who cares if I was wearing blue jeans. It'd probably be a little uncomfortable but I figured I'd be alright for a while.

I walked towards the punching bag they had and found some gloves nearby. I put them on, delighted to know that they fit great. I swung my arms around a few times, stretching them out. I also stretched out my legs and back before I got in position. I inhaled deeply and slowly exhaled before throwing a punch at the stationary object.

For the first couple of minutes, I hit the bag lazily. Once I got into the groove of things, I began to punch harder. For forty five minutes I kept at it; only resting for two minute intervals. I was kicking, punching, and elbowing the defenseless object; getting out all my frustration in my swings; all the crap with Miroku, with my dad, my mom, and just with my life in general. Sweat poured down my face and body as I continued to swing away. I screamed in frustration – hell I'm sure I even cried. I didn't stop until I was literally gasping for breath.

Finally exhausted, I collapsed onto the floor breathing heavily. The bag looked exactly the way it had when I first started swinging it, although my hands were probably going to be bruised by how hard I was swinging. I lay back onto the floor, my chest moving up and down rapidly. Closing my eyes, I let the breeze that the ceiling fans created cool down my body.

Opening my eyes again, I suddenly felt a lot lighter and cheerful then I had been in days. Maybe all I needed was a good outlet to get all my frustration out or maybe it had to do with the fact that Akira was almost home. Whatever the reason, I was, for once, happy to be where I was. Sure I had a trial looming over head over whether or not I'd be back with my dad or living on my own, even though my best friend was a complete asshole and betrayed the trust I had in him, I felt incredibly happy.

And yet, deep down, I knew that it was only a matter of time before things got screwed up again. Until then, I was going to pretend that I was finally normal again, even if it was only for a day.

* * *

**How many people hate me? I'm very sorry this chapter took very long to get out. It's not very good either. Le sigh…but at least you have an update right? I'm hoping to be finished with this story by the end of the year so I can move on to another story. I have so many ideas but I don't want to continue them unless I'm finished with this story.**

**How would you like to see how the story goes? I really want to know what you think! I have the general idea down on what's gonna happen, but I want to know what you guys think to let's hear it!**

**Thank you for sticking it out with me you guys; I think fanfiction isn't as popular anymore as it was when I was in middle/high school (that was a long time ago guys, I'm flipping old already) so if you're still here I really appreciate it!**

**Also, you can always add me on Facebook or follow me on Twitter; both links are on my bio!**

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**Inumel-mel**


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